Preville on Politics
What’s up John Tory’s sleeve now?
Posted on October 1, 2007 by Philip Preville
Shortly after I wrote Friday afternoon’s post, the dam broke. Within an hour I was handed the results of a poll that showed the Liberals at 43 per cent—their highest level of support all year—and the Tories down to 33 per cent and bleeding. So what looked like a stalemate on Friday now looks like a runaway Liberal majority. At noon today, John Tory will make an announcement designed to make the issue of faith-based schools go away. Good luck.
The Conservatives are getting killed at the door on the issue of public funding for faith-based schools (in part because Liberals, when they go to the door, remind voters to ask Conservatives about it, which is all fair cricket). Still, Tory won’t abandon the issue; he’ll fudge it with a free vote or a lengthier commission or something. Whatever he says, it will be only half the story. By fudging on faith-based schools Tory will try to take away a reason to vote against him. But if he can’t couple it with a new reason to vote against Liberals, it won’t do much good. The McGuinty people expect as much. As one veteran Liberal strategist told me, “Hang on to your hat for the final 10 days.”
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Philip Preville
Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.
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Mark Dowling October 2, 2007 at 8:38 a.m.
I thought Tory was going to use the free vote to invite Liberals like Kwinter who is still for faith-based funding under the tent, as Harper did the so-con Liberals with the same sex marriage free vote, to at least attempt some mayhem on the opposition side. The question is now becoming who will be the next PC leader, since it's hard to believe Tory will stay on when Wynne beats him in Don Valley.
Adam October 2, 2007 at 1:14 p.m.
I haven't seen it published but apparently Tory is way down in the polls to Wynne. CBC Radio reported that a Decima survey pegged it as Wynne 51, Tory 34. Though I don't know what the margin of error is and local polls are notoriously unreliable.