Unhappy Ontario PCs push to oust Tory

[unimaginative2]

Believe me, I know the riding well. Students are a factor, but they're obviously not enough of a factor to keep the riding from being reliably conservative provincially. Anyway, I was just speculating about a possible option for John Tory. Witmer has a very strong following, and she's the only person who'd have a chance, if slim, of beating the equally popular Telegdi. Federal politics might be a new adventure for her, with lots of room for upward movement. Coupled with her strong support for Tory, that suggests that she might be a pretty reasonable possibility for the person to step aside to give him a seat in the legislature. It's also a much better fit for Tory's personality than a rural seat.

 

[adma]

As a "Tory-Witmer" team, it might work. But had Witmer retired before the '03 election, the seat would have gone Liberal. And had she retired before the '07 election, the seat would have gone Liberal.

I might wonder about the possibility of outer-GTA seats like Durham and York North, since they're held by lower-profile class-of-95 Tories who might be feeling last-term pangs...

 

[lordmandeep]

however how on earth could the Tories win if they don;t break the Liberal hold on Toronto and area???

 

[unimaginative2]

There's a big difference between "Toronto" and "Toronto and area." The Tories could win a comfortable majority without a single seat in 416, which Harris came close to doing in '99. It's the 905 that matters. That's the area that will decide elections for the next several cycles.