It’s a four-letter F-word that Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak tries not to utter.
Ford.
As in Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his big brother, Councillor Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North).
With Tory strategists privately blaming Hudak’s struggles in Toronto on the Fords’ bullies-in-a-china-shop act at city hall, the PC leader strived to be diplomatic Monday during a campaign stop for the Oct. 6 election.
Speaking to reporters in Etobicoke, family seat of the Ford brothers, he repeatedly ducked questions about the impact of proposed municipal cuts and headline-grabbing Ford antics on his Toronto candidates.
“Let me say this to people in Toronto: the Dalton McGuinty Liberals have had almost every seat in Toronto these past eight years and what did you get in return?” Hudak said at an appliance-refurbishing company’s warehouse near Pearson International Airport.
“Worse gridlock, nothing done about crime like violent offenders who are in our midst and driving up your costs with an HST increase on your heat and your hydro, a premier who lectures you on what time you should do your chores late at night,” he said.
“The Liberals have taken Toronto seats and Toronto voters for granted too long. Things are going to change.”
Finally, after six questions about Ford, Hudak reluctantly mentioned the mayor’s name.
“I know that Mayor Ford and council are going through recommendations by the city manager, so the question is how can the province be of assistance,” he said of the city’s budget-cutting plans.
While Hudak did use one of Ford’s trademark campaign lines — “we’ll end the war on the car” — he is clearly mindful the Conservative mayor’s political coattails are not what they were when he swept to power last October.
Two public opinion polls in the past week found the Tories in third place in Toronto, where they have not won one of the city’s 23 ridings since 1999.
Hudak was at 25 per cent in the Toronto Star-Angus Reid survey released Saturday — behind McGuinty at 34 per cent and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath at 35 per cent. The Liberals hold 19 city seats and the NDP the remaining four.
Although the Liberals are privately delighted that Ford’s warnings of municipal service reductions are hurting the provincial Tories, they note that a PC government would cause the mayor more pain.
That’s because Hudak said last month he would scrap McGuinty’s 10-year accord with municipalities to upload services the previous Tory government of former premier Mike Harris had downloaded.
Under that 2008 agreement, the province is gradually reassuming the funding of ambulance services, court protection and seniors’ drug programs.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...is-one-f-bomb-that-hudak-refuses-to-drop?bn=1
Ford.
As in Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his big brother, Councillor Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North).
With Tory strategists privately blaming Hudak’s struggles in Toronto on the Fords’ bullies-in-a-china-shop act at city hall, the PC leader strived to be diplomatic Monday during a campaign stop for the Oct. 6 election.
Speaking to reporters in Etobicoke, family seat of the Ford brothers, he repeatedly ducked questions about the impact of proposed municipal cuts and headline-grabbing Ford antics on his Toronto candidates.
“Let me say this to people in Toronto: the Dalton McGuinty Liberals have had almost every seat in Toronto these past eight years and what did you get in return?” Hudak said at an appliance-refurbishing company’s warehouse near Pearson International Airport.
“Worse gridlock, nothing done about crime like violent offenders who are in our midst and driving up your costs with an HST increase on your heat and your hydro, a premier who lectures you on what time you should do your chores late at night,” he said.
“The Liberals have taken Toronto seats and Toronto voters for granted too long. Things are going to change.”
Finally, after six questions about Ford, Hudak reluctantly mentioned the mayor’s name.
“I know that Mayor Ford and council are going through recommendations by the city manager, so the question is how can the province be of assistance,” he said of the city’s budget-cutting plans.
While Hudak did use one of Ford’s trademark campaign lines — “we’ll end the war on the car” — he is clearly mindful the Conservative mayor’s political coattails are not what they were when he swept to power last October.
Two public opinion polls in the past week found the Tories in third place in Toronto, where they have not won one of the city’s 23 ridings since 1999.
Hudak was at 25 per cent in the Toronto Star-Angus Reid survey released Saturday — behind McGuinty at 34 per cent and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath at 35 per cent. The Liberals hold 19 city seats and the NDP the remaining four.
Although the Liberals are privately delighted that Ford’s warnings of municipal service reductions are hurting the provincial Tories, they note that a PC government would cause the mayor more pain.
That’s because Hudak said last month he would scrap McGuinty’s 10-year accord with municipalities to upload services the previous Tory government of former premier Mike Harris had downloaded.
Under that 2008 agreement, the province is gradually reassuming the funding of ambulance services, court protection and seniors’ drug programs.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...is-one-f-bomb-that-hudak-refuses-to-drop?bn=1
