A group of disgruntled London Tories has met a drop-dead deadline to tell Ontario Tory Leader Tim Hudak to drop dead.
Bill and Diane Litowski are among 10 party members pushing to change the Progressive Conservative constitution to allow a leadership vote at the party’s policy convention in London next month.
Hudak’s inner circle and caucus supporters were in full damage control Tuesday, as the second petition surfaced in four days calling for his head at next month’s convention.
“The all-hands-on-deck call to stop the dump-the-leader movement is there,” said a source close to key Tory insiders.
“I think Hudak has to look in the mirror long and hard and say, ‘Is this ever going to be a reality?’ and, if it’s not, do it now.”
(....)
Much of the problem, insiders say, is that Hudak continues to surround himself with relics from the Mike Harris era, including Harris himself, Leslie Noble, Tom Long and his wife Deb Hutton and this “kitchen cabinet” still thinks they’re operating as if it were the mid- to late-1990s.
Several party members were angered and insulted by a letter sent out last Friday — under the signature of deputy party leader Christine Elliott — claiming the party “made huge gains across the province” in last Thursday’s byelections.
While the Conservatives won their long sought-after seat in Toronto, they lost to the New Democrats in London West and to the Liberal machine in Ottawa South.
“Clearly, the people of Ontario are rejecting Kathleen Wynne’s vision for Ontario. They know it’s time for change,” the letter said ....
