THE CONSERVATIVE HIPSTERS

Hi there.

I won't be at the AGM this weekend, as my wife is about to give birth to our second child. So, I'm hoping that you can send a message along to John Tory, his team and the Party.

I ask that you vote YES to a leadership review.

I am a long-time activist. I've been working in ridings for over 15 years. I've sat on the Party Executive, the provincial Youth Executive and even worked (yes, I was paid) as a riding organizer. I know this Party and its members.

When this whole thing started, I was openly critical of the Draft A Leader folks and thought that Tory should probably sweat it out, but should stay.

All that has changed.


Since the election defeat, virtually EVERYTHING that John Tory has done has pushed me to my current belief that he should go. I have come to this view rationally and gradually. It has not been one event, but a series of events and thoughts that have brought me to this conclusion. I'll lay them out.


Firstly, while his "apologies" are made often, they reveal a disappointing mindset. He has said repeatedly that he was "doing what leaders do" during the campaign and it was his team minding the shop. "The campaign was the disaster! Look I fired Lasch!" Well, actually, you shouldn't of hired David Miller's campaign buddy in the first place, but I nevertheless don't think that's the accountability we're looking for.

But this does brings me to my second point. From everything I've heard and know personally, Tory had his fingers in everything. In fact, he was somewhat of a serious micro mananger. He wrote a lot of the platform. He had a large say in how the campaign unfolded. And most importantly, he chose the staff and the campaign team. Its one thing to be say: "Look, I delegated to my team and I got burned." But we all know Tory doesn't delgate anything. Remember, this is the guy that gets in at 6:00am and e-mails Party members personally. What about his "legendary work ethic"? Now he wants us to believe he was content just being the candidate? Give me a break.

So, he had a hand in everything, which leads me to my next point. He has clearly demonstrated that he hasn't learned a damn thing just by the people he has surrounded himself with. Look at the Tories4Truth fiasco; how aggressive his Together With Tory crew is, how they attack Party members; the way that his loyalists are manipulating the system leading up to the AGM so he can win (and they are, believe you me). Humble in defeat they are not.

Then, if it couldn't get much worse, Tory goes on TVO and acts like he has no idea what his team was doing. "Did I put that press release out?" Oh my God. This was the icing on the cake for me. He is either completely incompetent or a flat out liar. Either way, I guess he's "not up to the job."

I'm tried of him begging to keep his job. I'm tired of the conditional apologies. I'm tired of him running around the province, like kilometres on your minivan mean something. I'm tired of the biggest reason our Leader around not being how good he is, but how "bad" it would be for the Party. If I was going (and of course, I actually got notice of the DSM for my riding and was a delegate) I would be voting YES for a Leadership Review. But I'm not, so I leave it to you.

Here is my last point. The big argument (which is a pathetic reason to keep a leader, but I digress) I keep hearing is: "Who would replace John Tory? Who is waiting in the wings?" Well, besides the not-so-subtle comment the pro-Tory forces are making about their low opinion of the PC Caucus, I'm trying to think of an instance where an accomplished individual from the outside world was pursuaded into running for Leader of the Ontario PC Party after an election loss.

Yeah, you're right. That's NEVER happened before.

I mean, who in their right mind would leave the lucractive business world to run for PC leader?

Stop being afraid. Please vote Yes.