Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is the focus of debate again.
A group of Londoners is behind a move to make a constitutional amendment at this weekend’s Tory policy convention in London that would allow the party to review its leader.
But any changes are just procedural, says former PC candidate and city councillor, Cheryl Miller, one of 10 Londoners who want a leadership review.
“If you get 25 per cent of members signed, 30 days before the convention, then you can have a leadership review,” Miller says. “It doesn't mean in London we're going to say, ‘Tim, you're done.’”
So Hudak will be the leader going into the convention and coming out.
There have been rumblings about Hudak’s leadership since the early August byelections, when the Conservatives captured only one seat out of five.
“It’s a flag out there to let the leader know, we have some concerns,” Miller says.
Justin Samlal, the convention's manager and a Hudak supporter, agrees Hudak will stay put.
“We had a review after the last election. Tim was our leader after that election and he'll be our leader going into the next election.”
Hudak is still popular with many Tories so there's a movement afoot to kill the amendment. Several high profile MPPs and Conservatives have spoken out against the amendment and Thursday, the youth wing of the party did as well.
Miller believes the party's response shows a fear that Hudak can't capture the next election.
“There’s an undercurrent of panic in the party. What we did is we must have pushed some buttons with some people so that people are saying, ‘We can't win with this leader.’ We never said that,” Miller says.
Rallying behind the leader has taken on more importance, particularly since with a minority government, an election could happen at any time.
Supporters say this weekend will be a celebration of all he has done.
“We won the popular vote in the byelection and we broke into Toronto and that's huge for Tim and I think the party's behind him as much as I am,” Samlal says.
