John Tory Is NOT The Last Progressive Conservative. Is He?

On March 17 in the awkwardly-named riding of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, voters will almost certainly endorse Tory's bid for office, there not having been a Liberal MLA elected in this rural southern Ontario riding since 1934. But the legacy he will inherit is mighty lean: the 2003 election virtually wiped out the party's urban base (including all of Toronto), left debts of $10-million, and no policies except to survive.

When I interviewed Tory in Toronto last week, I found him unfazed by his problems. Gone are his preppy mannerisms and occasionally smug asides. This is a formidable political animal with his tail up to spot dangers and grab opportunities. He has a plan and a legacy to uphold. "I'm proud to call myself a Progressive Conservative," he told me, "because it describes people like Robert Stanfield, John Robarts and Bill Davis, who believed in self-reliance and the importance of individual initiative, but also felt responsibility for putting programs in place that helped those who are less fortunate."

"Ahh, a Red Tory," I ventured. "The last of the Mohicans."

"I've never liked the term Red Tory because of its negative connotations," he replied. "I'm a Conservative with a strong social conscience and a sense of civility that hasn't just manifested itself since I entered provincial politics."

One example: after he ran for the Toronto mayoralty (having increased his popularity from 3.6% at the start of the campaign to 39.6%, finishing a close second to winner, David Miller) Tory organized and chaired a successful fundraiser for his two opponents, Miller and Barbara Hall, who were deeply in debt. Tory takes after his parents, Liz and John Sr., as decent a pair as has ever graced the Canadian Establishment.

"I wasn't allowed to misbehave at my family dinners, at school or when I was CEO of Rogers Cable," their eldest son points out. "Why would I now enter into public life, which I regard as the highest calling, and behave like a rowdy street kid? Besides, you don't get more money out of the feds by kidney-punching and yelling at them."

Tory has visited 84 of Ontario's 102 ridings since he became leader of the province's Progressive Conservatives, touching the Earth and listening. "What people are more concerned about than anything is the lack of straight-forwardness, honesty and integrity, in the sense that when they hear somebody promise to do something, they're not going to rest until he's done it." That's his credo.

Tory claims to harbour no federal ambitions and it's probably true, but may not always be the case. He will be spending part of next summer in France, enrolled in an intensive language program, the same one that allowed the unilingual Brian Tobin to hold a press conference in French when he returned to Ottawa. All it takes is a glance at Tory's competition in both of the ruling parties, and his odds for advancement appear mighty favourable.

politicians -- Macdonald, Laurier and King -- between them held office for 57 years by using the power of the state to shape the country's social and economic development. The federal Conservatives' traditional liability has been their image as the political arm of Toronto's Bay Street, hived into protecting what was left of the Family Compact.

Among many exceptions to that outdated view was the federal Conservatives' unexpected 1942 choice for leader, John Bracken, a Prairie Progressive who introduced a decidedly populist strain. He had no luck at the polls (and the party bought him a Buick to prompt his resignation), but Bracken's valedictory would have pleased Tory: "To the left," he declared, "lies the hidden slopes of communism; to the right a short and bitter descent to oblivion. On the other hand, this party can follow the straight path to reasoned progress." That could be Tory's winning formula.

Unlike Stephen Harper and most of the country's other Conservative leaders, John Tory is well aware that politics in Canada -- and especially Ontario -- has become a determined struggle for the centre. And he intends to win it.

© National Post 2005