I can honestly say that the Ontario PC Party appears to be moving in the right direction when it comes to motivation and organization.
The PAC (Policy Advisory Council) meetings held yesterday wrapped up two years of build up in 12 key areas:
- Economy
- Environment
- Energy
- Social Energy
- Heritage and the Arts
- Agriculture, Rural and Resources
- Education
- Health
- Justice
- Urban Issues
- Toronto Issues
- Northern Issues
In the forefront for the party, however, is job creation.
“It is clear what the most important issue to address is: create a business environment in Ontario that once again attracts and sustains private sector jobs. The valuable input from our fellow Conservatives helps to support and inform the Ontario PC Caucus’ Job Creation Plan.” (Peter Shurman, Ontario PC MPP for thornhill and Co-Chair of the Toronto PAC)
The party was also highlighting the numerous Town Hall meetings, the Policy Convention and an online survey as part of the PAC process.
The keynote speech by Leader Tim Hudak was full of great lines and was obviously something that built up from beginning to end. You could see build up in the supporters through the speech when it came to a) the level of applause and b) the quantity of people giving standing O’s.
Following the speech, I socialized with a few of my old friends from the federal level of politics and joined in on an interesting conversations about pending nominations for the next election.
The dinner was an interesting event with the food service being marché style. From what everyone had said about dinner fiascos in past provincial events in London and Niagara, this style let everyone eat as much as they wanted, there was seating or cocktail table space for everyone who wasn’t in a food line up and despite many people wanting a sit down dinner, this was probably the smartest way the party could a) cover everyone’s desire to eat b) allow for mingling in the food lines and c) allow for several changes in table seating which was a wonderful way for delegates/supporters to mingle and meet new people.
The later part of the evening was highlighted by a visit to the spacious Federal level Conservative hospitality suite. Being far more associated with the Federal party, I was very comfortable here.
Through the weekend, I noticed a few MPs milling around. Peter Van Loan, Tony Clement, Gord Brown and John Baird all made appearances at some point through the convention. Today (Sunday) will be highlighted by a Tim Hudak/Senator Mike Duffy show. Having seen Senator Duff speak a couple of times, I sense this will be another scathing attack on what Liberals across Ontario and Canada have done to the country and how at the Federal level the Conservatives are rebuilding what the Liberals tore down and that it can also be done at the provincial level with leaders like Tim Hudak.