Who’s the candidate?

Provincial Tories delay nomination meeting until the end of May

What are the provincial Tories up to in Prince Edward-Hastings? With the federal election dominating the headlines, most folks likely haven’t noticed that just a few short months before a provincial election, the Progressive Conservatives don’t yet have a candidate for Prince Edward- Hastings.

The local riding association was set to hold its nomination meeting on March 26.

Eric DenOuden, the Progressive Conservatives flag bearer in the last provincial election, had submitted nomination papers in advance of the meeting. But just days before the meeting the party abruptly postponed the meeting indefinitely, citing “logistics” issues.

According to riding President Rob Pearsall, PC Ontario officials in Toronto decide when and how nomination meetings will be held in this riding. He says that while these folks initially approved the March 26, date they subsequently decided too many other nomination meetings were underway during the same week and they wouldn’t be able to send an official to come and oversee the nomination.

Pearsall says that with a federal election underway the party is now looking at a late-May nomination meeting—plenty of time, he says, before the October 14 provincial election.

The federal election, however, hasn’t held up other ridings in electing a candidate.

Late last month the Tories’ longest serving member, Norm Sterling, was ousted in a hotly contested race in Carleton Place—Mississippi Mills. Sterling, a moderate, accused fellow Tory MPP Randy Hillier of engineering his defeat in an attempt to swing the party to the far right.

Sterling was defeated by novice politician Jack MacLaren, a proponent of small government, lower taxes and less regulation. He believes Rob Ford’s success in Toronto offers important lessons to Progressive Conservatives in the fall election.

Back in Prince Edward-Hastings, Eric DenOuden doesn’t know what to make of the delay. He figures the party wants to avoid an acclamation—that they prefer a contested nomination.

Pearsall agrees the party would like to see a fight for the nomination but doesn’t believe this is why the meeting was postponed.

“Parties often want contested nominations,” said Pearsall. “It creates competition and gets two or more people out there selling memberships. So rather than attracting 1,000 new folks to the party you might sell 2,000 memberships. It is always good news for the party.It brings more money in—more attention and more excitement. It gets more people involved.”

Pearsall insists scheduling difficulties caused the delay.

“They have to have a representative here to oversee it. When our meeting was initially scheduled they found they had too many other nomination meetings going on at the same time.”

“Now we have a federal election and everyone’s attention is focused on federal politics.”

Isn’t the party worried that it is losing valuable time to create a profile for the candidate?

“Five months is a long time in politics,” said Pearsall. “Things can happen quickly in politics.”

He acknowledges the news cycle in the largely rural riding of Prince Edward-Hastings is longer than urban centres but suggests the choices made in the next election will be decided on the provincial stage rather than a local one.

“A great deal of the party’s success will be based on how well Tim Hudak does and the platform he runs upon,” said Pearsall.

Pearsall figures these challenges in spring will be meaningless by the fall.

“The average voter in Prince Edward-Hastings isn’t interest in the internal machinations of the Conservative party—they are are worried about how to pay the electricity bill? Is there going to be an industrial wind turbine built in my back yard? Will I be able to afford to pay my taxes? Will my children be able get a job after college or university? Will I be able to send them to college and university?

“These are the things the average citizen is concerned with. They aren’t worried about why a nomination meeting was held in May and not in March.”