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Days Left to Register and Decide Ontario Tories Tory-Replacement
Posted May 7, 2009 by Stephen Dohnberg
Only seven days left to register as an Ontario Progressive Conservative Party member and decide who becomes the Tories' Tory-replacement. The provincial election may not be soon, but if the NDP experienced a lack of interest in their race, will the PC's?
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! One left week to register as an Ontario Progressive Conservative Party member and vote!
(When it comes to the idea of provincial PC's , the first thought that should enters the mind is "is there a differentiation between the federal and provincial parties anymore?" )
In any case, May 14 is the deadline to pony up ten bucks for party membership and a right to participate in the June 21 and 25 "preferential ballot" vote, in time for the Markham convention on June 26 - 28. "An advance poll will open on Sunday, June 21st from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm " according to the official OCPC website, and "Voting day will be Thursday, June 25th from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm at voting locations across the province."
Voting is held by a preferential ballot and mirrors the voting system employed by the federal Conservatives. Essentially a form of proportional representation - a provincial riding association holds up to 100 'electoral votes' and they are cast by each riding's party members. The winning candidate must win a majority of these 'electoral votes'. If no winner emerges, another round of tallying ensues, the last place candidate is dropped, with the votes "redistributed" based on second choice rankings.
This also means riding members only need to make on trip to the polls. It's a rather staid form of conventioneering that has become the norm in recent years, replacing the previous "delegate style" convention, which, in the past has been suspenseful, eventful, sometimes divisive, but never exactly boring for pundit types and political birdwatchers who either enjoy or prefer these events. The new style convention does attract party members and candidate supporters, but if the federal Conservative Party leadership race was any measure, just as many member of the media show up to trip over each other's equipment and try to find an angle on what it is they're witnessing.
An argument has been made that it democratizes the party participation - eliminating the expensive delegate selection in each riding, including the costs of sending those delegate to the Convention. Some inconsistencies exist: some ridings that have fewer than 100 members are designated one Electoral Vote per voting member, where ridings with more than 100 members are allocated 100 electoral votes - averaged out by the number of voting members.
Four candidates have emerged to vye for the leadership: Frank Klees (former Chief Government Whip under Harris government, and, under Eves, Minister of Tourism and of Transportation), Tim Hudak (Niagara - West Glanbrook), Christine Elliott (current MPP for Whitby—Oshawa ), and Randy Hillier (Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington ).
Of the four, Hudak is believed to be the front-runner, gauging by caucus support - however both Klees and Elliot have some cachet in the race. Klees ran in 2004 and placed 3rd, while Elliot is the wife of previous leadership contender Jim Flaherty, and holds a notable amount of support within the party, too. Hillier is running on the potential that his rural activism could also propel him to some prominence.
For kicks, if one were to use a metric like social media sites such as Twitter followers to read the candidates active support, it would read Hudak 575, Hillier 478, Elliot 237, and Klees 157. It might not be as crazy as one might imagine. If one component of the route to the leadership is the ability to garner party member support, then Hudak, the 41 year old Southern Ontario candidate who has held his seat since 1996, should be further ahead - especially if the potentially more heavily weighed rural distribution could lean toward Hillier. Klees and Elliot could essentially be vying for the same sector of the party.
This method is not nearly as scientific or as reliable as, say, a phone poll. But rather, as indicated, one of a myriad of new methods to read possible outcomes, and reach voters.
Realistically, Hudak's 'Right For Ontario' campaign is barrelling along picking up the endorsements that garner the press ink and supply the dollars.
Four official debates are scheduled: May 21, London / May 27 Sudbury / June 4 Markham / June 10 Ottawa. A final televised debate will be on TVOntario, airing June 18 on The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
If the lack of public interest accorded to the Ontario NDP leadership race this past March is any indicator of where Ontarians heads are at (quick! name the new leader!), the debates will mean little in terms of immediacy for anyone other than registered party voters and those who might want to get to know a possible replacement for the Liberals and Dalton McGuinty.
