NEWS FLASHES! [Full story below]
Aug 30th: PC leadership will go ahead in September whether Hudak likes it or not. This Star article suggests Tim's doing okay and won't get tossed out anyway. That's one way of looking at it but also read below .... Meanwhile here's the article, with the latest Forum polls Here!
He's back, or at least he'd like to be vis a vis Tim!
The National Post's Andrew Coyne argues no leadership review is necessary. Tim is doing a great job. Good job Andrew, keep telling everybody that. Ha. See blog. Article @ Hooray 4 Tim!
The Toronto Suns Sue Ann Levy argues that the Hudak PC's are out of touch with their own party members and
constitution if they try to ignore the petition. They will only hurt themselves! Keep it up Hudak PC's! Article @ Boo Tim!
Is there a "perfect storm" in the making for the fall QP legislature? Are we looking at an election call? Meanwhile more Torys scramble to save Hudaks sorry butt @ Ontario Fall Election?!?
Deep thoughts?!? Duh: Maybe the problem's not Hudak but the PC party? Consider @ No Comment!
Day 11 of the PC revolt + the public war of words escalates! Looks like it's Jim Wilson verses Frank Klees + Randy Hiller @ PC Fight!
Tory Communications Director calls for calm. Warns the party might be pulling itself apart if it turns on Hudak now. More @ Serious business!
Wynne must be laughing at her good fortune. National Post writer thinks the PC's need to give Hudak more time, but did he do that for John Tory? There's a lot more to the plot than is acknowledged here @ Last laugh?
Seems like Christmas for Andrea Horwath + the NDP! Consider the strategic implications of the PC revolt @ Do they know it's Christmas?
Hudak refuses a leadership review. He wants the PC's to unite with him to defeat the OLP. More @ Tim Says No!
Klees + Hiller: No more nicey nice with the Timbo?
Here's the latest mid August scuttlebutt on what's going on behind the scenes within the PC party. None of it looks particularly promising for Timbo @ PC Scuttlebutt
What does he have to do to turn events around back in his favour + become premier? TVO's Steve Paikin writes @ What next?!?
MPP Frank Klees becomes first top Tory to call for a leadership review. I will report further on the "Frank Klees story" at a later date. Lots to tell from the times we've met on the teacher political circuit. Even very funny in a bizarre sort of way. That's our Frank!. Meanwhile read @ Frank Klees
Fellow PC'er + Federal Cabinet Minister John Baird dismisses Hudaks critics. He even thinks Tim would make a great premier. Uh huh. More on John below. Lots of related news links and the latest story @ A Great Premier?!?
The Story So Far:
In the wake of the August 1 by-elections, Tim Hudak faces a PC caucus revolt! There had been some speculation that the party would consider it time for a change in leadership if he did not make a good showing. Well, now the wheels have been set in motion. Two petitions are being circulated calling for a leadership review. How far they proceeds, nobody knows.
What me worry?!? Harris exposed in Hudaks secret cabinet!
It would certainly seem that there's a plot afoot to have him replaced with a new leader who's more likely to win the next provincial election, when it's probably called in the spring. Fair is fair. Ironically it was Hudak who ruthlessly schemed to dethrone former Party Leader John Tory after the PC's flubbed 2007 election loss. So far Tim has lost the 2011 provincial election, last summers K-W by-election, and only won 1 out of 5 by-elections on August 1st. Ouch! What goes around comes around. Is it bye bye time for Tim Hudak? Story @ PC Revolt!
The knives are out! MPP Frank Klees thinks Hudak should pre-empt any criticism and silence his critics by welcoming a confidence vote at the upcoming Sept 20-22 party convention. Remember though: after he lost the the 2011 provincial election, Hudak only scored 78.7% in a confidence vote. Hardly stellar. What percentage would he get now? What would it take to make him go?
Enquiring union minds need to know what sense to make of these recent developments! Although the prospect of a Hudak PC government is bad news for us, a divided party under Hudak's continuing leadership could prove a damaging handicap for the party come a spring election. What If he were replaced with a more palatable voter friendly leader? Then if the PC's win, we could still end up with a lot of Tory baddies in the QP caucus. Also calling the shots from behind the scenes too!
Here's the real interesting news Tim bit: An article in the Toronto Sun says Hudak is considered "out of touch with reality" by his QP caucus. So who is he in touch with then?!? Most of his planning and scheming is being carried out through his secret "kitchen cabinet". It includes, get this -Mike Harris! Leslie Noble! Tom Long! + Tim's wife Deb Hutton! In essence it's the old so called Harris era "Common Sense Revolution [CSR]" gang still lurking around plotting a political neo con comeback coup! More @ Secret Harris Cabinet!
Harris advises Hudak on what to do.
The Toronto Star QP Bureau considers it unlikely the petitions will succeed in unseating Tim. Regardless, the machinations have been set in motion. We have seen the PC party implode before. Are we about to witness it happen again? What would this portend to the fortunes of the NDP? Or the minority OLP government? Lots of questions, but not many answers, yet! It is expected that the petitions will be handed to Hudak in the next few days. See the Star article @ Petitions
These are the dog days of summer. Few minds are concentrated let alone even thinking about politics. Still, this is a story we will need to keep watching in the upcoming days, weeks and months ahead! We will be negotiating new contracts over the next year. The fall legislature promises to be very interesting + treacherous one for Tim Hudak indeed! He can dish the dirty work out. Now let's see if he can take it!
Drat! Plot foiled by PC caucus revolt?!?
BACKGROUNDER
Former PC Premier Mike Harris considers former PC Cabinet Minister Tim Hudak his protégé. He was very pleased to stand by his side on stage when Hudak won the party leadership in 2007. That ended 7 years of moderate PC leadership under Ernie Eves, and John Tory. Harris and Tim are close friends and share a common ultra neo conservative "vision of governing". Hudak's wife Deb Hutton might be considered the brains of the operation. She helped write the early drafts of the "Common Sense Revolution" document, not Mike or Tim. It set out the guiding principles and goals by which the 1995-2002 Harris government operated. It resulted in 7 years of extreme labour disruptions + unrest while providing generous tax cuts for the rich across Ontario. Back to the future? The plot thickens! More info @ Harris Protégé
Wikipedia provides a good detailed general overview of the Mike Harris Common Sense Revolution + the dire results that followed, though it still requires some edits + citations @ CSR
"Life Under Mike" was a very informative documentary that's worth seeking out. It's about the Harris years. It was made by producer Michael Moore and a number of our Ontario unions in 2000 when he was still Premier. I haven't been able to find an online link but here is a review and clip @ Life Under Mike
This Toronto Life 2011 cover story on the "Truth About Tim Hudak" outlines his long climb up the Ontario neo con Tory ladder to become PC leader party @ Hudak Agenda.
Another Toronto Life article soft soaps Hudaks "Harris Lite" claims and "Changebook" version of the CSR. However It further outlines his Federal and Provincial Conservative ties in more detail @ Hudak Changebook
The family tree!
Hudaks 2011 Changebook might have seemed a relatively innocuous election platform at first. A summary is @ More Changebook
To counter complaints he was too vague, Hudak has since developed a detailed series of Harris redux "Paths to Prosperity" white papers outlining his neo conservative vision for governing Ontario. If elected Premier he plans to quickly implement a US styled "Right to Work for Less" plan that would effectively kill our Labour union movement. There's a lot more in the white papers to guarantee that an all out War on the Poor will ensue. You can examine Path's to Prosperity with a forward from Tim Hudak for yourself @ Hudaks PC Paths to Prosperity White Papers
NOTE
I am thinking of posting a news link blog about the Harris Years from 1995-2002 at some point. I fear our newer teachers neither know nor appreciate much about what happened to us back then. They will have to increasingly become the ones who will need to carry on the good fight and incur the Neo Con wrath should a neo Con PC party ever get elected again. Perhaps they will better understand why contract stripping + political indifference is so totally unacceptable despite whatever disruption or inconvenience it might cause them in the immediate sense. Truly this is a clear cut example of the old expression that an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Hudaks wife Deb Hutton was actually one of the chief architects of the Harris "Common Sense Revolution"!
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