Random Access

Remember those long-standing rumours back when John Tory was still deciding if he would run in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey or try another tougher riding in the GTA?
The ones that had him running in Mississauga South where the lifetime Tory (generic version) reign was still intact until Tim Peterson upset Margaret Marland by the slimmest of margins in 2003?
Well, maybe they weren’t wrong after all.
Tory looks suspiciously like the candidate for Mississauga South judging by the number of appearances he has made in the riding so far, announcing a major plank in his education policy outside Byngmount Beach Public School, opening the campaign office of his prodigal son, Tim Peterson, who wandered home from the wilderness of the gritty red badlands and, coming up this Friday, holding a rally of all the Mississauga PC candidates at Peterson’s Clarkson offices.
No wonder every list of key ridings in Ontario includes Mississauga South.
It’s as if Tory has staked an emotional claim on the riding as the beachhead in the critical 905 battle for seats that will almost certainly hold the key to power in the Oct. 10 vote.
Now, Tory has anointed Peterson as his surrogate in Wednesday night’s “town hall” meeting at the Mississauga Civic Centre, where the City will try to impress its agenda upon the provincial parties.
None of the Big Three will be in attendance because they are rehearsing for the leaders’ debate the next night. The Liberals are sending the provincial treasurer, Greg Sorbara, and the Tories were rumoured to be sending hot shot Erie-Lincoln MPP Tim Hudak.
Instead, Peterson will carry the spear for the Conservatives in what could be a fatal strategic error. The MPP is being put in the highly uncomfortable position of attacking policies he (at least theoretically) helped create for three-and-a-half of the past four years when he was in the Liberal huddle.
Even at the annual provincial post budget dog and pony show the Liberals put on for the Board of Trade, Peterson was always the comic relief, telling a few jokes and skipping over the details of the programs, suggesting that the audience had no doubt read the relevant bits already in the morning papers. A policy wank, he ain’t.
The good news is that the questions are available beforehand.
Maybe Tory is in town so much because Peterson is having some trouble finding locals to work for him. After the disaster of the floor-crossing and the bitter rift that Tory’s none-too-deft handling of the situation caused in the local association, it’s hard to find South Tories who are actually working in the riding. Nina Tangri in Mississauga-Streetsville has been one of the main beneficiaries of the exodus.
The wound is just too fresh for many Conservatives to work for him and his ex-Liberal friends are more likely to be sitting this one out than following Peterson across the road.
A lot of Tories just aren’t enamoured of the Peterson “good-old-boy” school of charm, either. Especially after 18 years of decorum from Marland.
Maybe telling the former MPP to “shut up” as Peterson did at a July 9 executive meeting, according to the minutes of the association, wasn’t such a great idea.
“Tim Peterson told Margaret Marland to ‘shut up’ at one point, which created an outburst of anger and disgust from a large portion of executive members,” read the minutes.
Trying to get the remark expunged — unsuccessfully — at a follow-up meeting may not have been such a great idea either.