John Tory's defenders have identified a new culprit for Oct. 10's disastrous election results: his senior advisors. That would be John Laschinger, Harry Near, et al -- the men who elected Bill Davis all those times. According to MPP Lisa Macleod:
"We need to keep John around as leader. Our priority as a party should be replacing some people around him who have not served him well and we need to put together a plan, between the caucus and the party, to move forward for the next four years," she said.
With respect to Lisa, Mr. Tory was the man who chose to put those individuals in place. Leaders are responsible for the people they surround themselves with. If those people prove to be bad, we do not exonerate the leader for having chosen them. The bucks stops with him.
I understand that Mr. Tory inspires a great deal of loyalty amongst those who know him. I can understand why, as I've worked with that kind of person a couple of times myself. He's the rare kind of politician who is nice, works hard and cares a lot about the team rather than just himself. That said, one of the main factors I'm hearing for why people want him to stay is that they just don't want another leadership race.
That seems odd. If there were ever a time when the PCs could afford to go through a bloodletting, it would be now. They have four years of majority Liberal government to endure. They can afford to spend six months or a year tearing themselves apart, talking policy and electing a new leader and will have plenty of time to recuperate in time for 2011. These processes tend not to be pretty, but now is as good a time as any.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:20 PM
