Ontario’s loss of a uniquelly good man.

History shows us that conservative parties fail when they move too far from their conservative principles. Ontario - and Canada - does not need another Liberal party. What both need is a true Conservative Party that is distinguishable from the Liberals and Socialists. I am not sure the Ontario PC party or John Tory actually understands this. While Tory may be a decent guy, and a far better choice than McGuinty, the public couldn’t really distinguish him from McGuinty and the Liberals.

As it ever was.

I have not been a fan of John Tory since I found out he is pro-abortion and pro same-sex marriage. His views are not conservative.

I am delighted that Tory is stepping down. I don’t dislike Liberals. But I do dislike liberals who pretend to be conservatives. Tory’s mentor was Bill Davis, whom I despise eternally for his cancelling of the Spadina Expressway.
Good riddance to Tory. Now let’s find a conservative to beat McGuinty in the next election.

TOO BAD Great Loss to the party. At the same time I have lost faith in both Federal & Provincial Conservative partie. Ex conservative executive.
They both preach common sense & both parties don’t have any. I thought they were better than the Liberals. Also Ex liberal executive.
Bottom line is the people are loosing any faith left in all politicians. To gain any respect they need to be accountable and serve the people NOT themselves.

My response to your observations is quite different. Those of us who are social conservatives recognize that John Tory is not one of us. That fact, my friends is a BIG issue. From a social issues standpoint John Tory is a full blooded Liberal who does not deserve to carry the Conservative banner.

You may be correct as regards his position on fiscal issues but what separates a very large number of us is his social orientation. How disgraceful for him to help redefine family when the Ontario courts thrust sam sex marriage upon us! Tory was an integral part of the family destruction campaign.

If the next candidate for the Conservative leadership is anything like John Tory, he/she will be rejected by socons too. We need a Jim Flaherty.

Where the hell is Mike Harris when you need him?

The results of yesterday’s bi-election proved one important thing. Sheer
arrogance and a sense of entitlement don’t win elections. Mr. Tory
obviously wasn’t wanted by his own party as it’s leader and should have
stopped flogging that dead horse long ago. He also should have run in his own territory . Some of us want our representatives to actually live
among us if only to make them more accessible when we need them.
Roseanne Quinn
R.R. 2
Colborne ON

I feel sorry for him because I think he meant well. But he was a “progressive conservative” which is an oxymoron. I supported his faith-based education support but he was not able to explain its fairness principle. I hope that the Ontario PC party has better candidates but am not holding my breath.Even so, any of them can hardly be worse than Dalton McGuinty.

Every commentator says that Tory is a class act (CBC!) and a nice person (Toronto Star!). These Red Tories have done as much damage to Canada as the Trudeau-ites - if not more as they have given liberalism a sort of respectability that it does not deserve.
Tory actually helped the creepy Barbara Hall and the ridiculous David Miller to pay off their election debts by holding fund-raising parties for them, for God’s sake! This to me is the final definition of a loser. No killer/winner instinct and a need to be liked by the enemy.
Absolutely no loss. He should return to his former life as a TV repair man. Has anyone noticed that from the moment he left Rogers, the service has improved enormously?
My original sentence about being nice……. we know where they finish.

Good thing Tory lost, now the conservatives will be forced to find a real leader. I suggest Tim Hudak!

He doesn’t have the right stuff to win any election.

As much as I thought John Tory would make a good leader, his fiasco about the religious based school thing and his determination to justify it totally during the election blew his credibility and left me with absolutely no trust in him. To have to suffer another majority of the TaxAndSpendMcGuinty government has been too bitter a pill to swallow.

I am glad to see John Tory leave as now maybe we can rebuild the trust in the party. I wish him well in the future as I think he is a good man with great capabilities but unable to build trust now where it is so badly needed.

John Tory is and always was a red tory who may have resonated with urban types in downtown Toronto, but whose philosophy was uniformly rejected by everyone else. Don’t forget, he only took on the PC leadership after he had been beaten by David Miller in the race to become Mayor of Toronto, indicating that the PC leadership was second prize as far as he was concerned.

The fact that the PC Party did not elect a new leader last year after their disastrous showing in the previous election only goes to show how bereft of talent the PCs currently are. I think they need several years more to rebuild themselves before they will be force in Ontario again.

I don’t know what all the hype about Hudak is. He is totally unproven.

I am glad to hear on Stephen Taylor that the party is going to hold an open and extended leadership race that wraps up in September, both to avoid any chance of an overlap with a federal election, and to allow for all the contestants to really get tested. I think there will be some newcomers and fresh faces that really impress. There’s a lot of talent in the party, and I’m looking forward to see some of the new guys like Peter Shurman get out there and show what they’re made of.

Tory is not gone. He’ll always be around for the party he always has been.
Good Luck John.

I suggest that whoever decides to run they first tune in to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hennity to have a little of the Right (stuff) rub off.

John Tory’s demise happened during the last election when he foolishly decided to support all religious based schools. Specifically he accomplished in a negative way something that no other provincial politician has ever managed to do in that he united both Protestants and Catholics against him for opposite reasons. Most Protestants don’t support the idea of a government supported separate school system let alone a plethora of school systems, while most Catholics, on the other hand, are happy with the two systems but no more. Hence, ironically enough, both camps had something in common.
It’s unfortunate for John Tory is basically a good man.

John is a good and honest man but he is not a good enough politican to win over the voters. It is clearly time for a change. John should go back to business.

John Tory should really go even after the last provincial election. If he did not quit before the next election, I would vote an independent candidate instead of a Liberal or NDP. I am a strong supporter of Conservatives, federal and provincial, and I always donate to the cause. John Tory had the chance to beat this McGuinty if not for his stubborness about the faith based education. Now, we are in for a long string of lies, lies and lies from these Liberal idiots.

God bless all of you neolithic right wingers. Don’t you know there aren’t enough of you left in Canada to fill a life-boat, let alone vote in a government of troglodytes to make you happy? Harper knows that & so does John Tory. Liberals pass these instincts to their offspring in their genes. So the best that you knuckle-draggers can hope for is a fiscally right wing & socially centre-left, occasionally electable platform. Your bitching & moaning reminds me of the two old duffers in the audience on the Muppets TV show reruns. You probaly stay in your caves by the thousands on election day and allow the Libs & Dippers to win the seats.

Think I’m one ? Wrongo, bucko. I’m a guy who has only ever voted PC, Alliance, Reform or Conservative over my 50 years to date & I’ve never missed an election. Two-faced Trudeau did not fool me and, as predicted, he pirouetted his way to almost ruin the country. It took Brian Mulroney 2 terms to get Canada back into reasonable territory.

Your heart’s desire (and mine), a Mike Harris phenomenon, is a 100 year storm. You get it in ultra- rare circumstances, like after a Bob Rae destroys government finances or lefties foul their nests in extremis like an Adscam. Otherwise, Muppets, your rightest rhetoric scares the bejeebers out of the sensitive souls in the Lib & Dipper camps & they flock from their communes to mark their X while you grump in your caves reciting, “I’ll show that John Tory he can’t just walk into the Kawarthas & win a seat!! I ain’t budging from my Lazy-boy”.

John Tory, with whom I’ve met and debated, is possibly the most intellectually honest politician (ex politician?) in Canada, at least that I’ve seen. When he asks for an opinion, he truly listens. Having said that, he votes his instincts irrespective of majority views and often opts for positions that appeal to neither extreme. Hence, frequently, he gets no support from either end of the centrist spectrum. That’s like being dead right.

And a sad commentary it is on the self-serving, disingenuous positions on issues taken by most politicians of all stripes, at all levels of government. Perhaps this penchant condemns moreso the shallow & short attention span of those among the electorate who bother to pay some attention to what politicians actually say. For the rest who don’t pay any attention but still vote, it’s just a social event. Like, “Gee, why did Ontario government spending go up 40%? And why did my taxes go up and my entitlements go down? Maybe I better vote for Dalton again so he can fix that.”

Unfortunately for me, I can’t move back to where I came from to show my contempt because I’m seventh generation Canuck. So I guess I’ll join the Muppet chorus, but across the aisle.

Because of his business experience and expertise, and his ability to meet and mingle with people and to lead them to follow his policies, I think he might have made an excellent mayor of Toronto, but his proposed policy of funding religious organizations was out of step with the times. His espousal of this policy revealed a serious lack of good judgment which might have carried over into other policy considerations.

It should be manditory that politicians could serve for one term only.That way they dont get a chance to learn how to thoroughly fleece the people and line their pockets.  It would mean fresh ideas and greater opportunity for all.  No politician should be allowed to bounce around in politics which is an add expence to the tax payer.  Perhaps this way they would get a chance to see and appreciates how it feels to pay taxes and watch it go into the bottomless pocket of government.  

Remember when premier Pinocchio decided to raise MPP salaries by a whopping 25%? That would have been a terrific time for John Tory to stand up and fight. Instead he decided to go with McFly. And blew THE issue for the next election, Then he topped with the faith based school thing. He is a good and honest man with integrity, but in politics unfortunately that does not count. Remember Bob Stanfield?

I am glad Tory is gone, I voted for John Klees the last time, and would do it again. RED Tories? No thank you, I liked Mike Harris. At the federal level I am very dis-appointed in Stephen Harper as well. One time pres. of the NCC turned in to a rabbit.