The race to succeed Ernie Eves as Conservative
leader took an aggressive turn last night as front-runner John
Tory's two rivals pounced on the former Toronto mayoral
candidate.
MPP Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Ajax) used the first leadership debate
to attack Tory for being obsessed with Toronto issues and not
committed to Conservative principles like tax cuts.
"You sound like a Liberal. We reduce taxes - that's
who we are. You sound like (Premier Dalton) McGuinty,"
Flaherty, 54, scolded the former Rogers CEO.
"I've been a Conservative throughout 35 years,"
shot back Tory, 50.
"I have never been a Liberal. You actually have canvassed
for the Liberal party in the Trudeau years," he said.
"You didn't just experiment with the Liberal party,
you inhaled, Jim," he continued, referring to
Flaherty's youthful enthusiasm for former prime minister
Pierre Trudeau in the late 1960s.
MPP Frank Klees (Oak Ridges), joined in, likening Tory to Prime
Minister Paul Martin for opposing further health-care
privatization and to former mayor Mel Lastman for favouring
additional TTC funding.
"I think, John, you must have been reading Mel
Lastman's briefing notes. There is more to Ontario than
Toronto," said the former transportation minister, provoking
cheers and jeers from the crowd of 400 at a suburban Ottawa
hotel. Source.
