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John Tory said Thursday that he would like to stay on as leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party but will not remain if the party wants to oust him.
He was speaking one day after a bitter defeat that saw him lose his seat in the legislature and his party's share of the popular vote reduced as the Liberal party won its second straight majority.
“You can't stay where you're not wanted to stay, quite frankly,” Mr. Tory told Toronto radio station CFRB early Thursday. He does not have any public events planned today.
Popular support for the Tories fell by more than three percentage points in this election, to 31.5 per cent, although the party won 26 seats, two more than in the 2003 election. Liberal candidate Kathleen Wynne won in Mr. Tory's Don Valley West riding by about 5,000 votes.
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory and his wife, Barbara Hackett, speak to supporters after he conceded the Ontario election on Wednesday. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
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Several political observers say it is now likely that Mr. Tory will step down.
“Either he's going to be convinced that he can't stay on and he'll announce his retirement or he'll be pushed out,” said Henry Jacek, professor of political science at McMaster University, on Thursday.
“The fact that he did worse [in the popular vote] than the Conservatives did the last time, the fact that he lost his own seat. ... He made mistake after mistake, sometimes not listening to his advisers. I think his advisers are going to be the ones to lead the charge to push him out.”
Mr. Tory's key mistake, Mr. Jacek said, was his position on public funding for faith-based schools, an issue that dogged him throughout the campaign.
Others say it's his advisers and policy makers who should take the blame.
“John Tory did well -- I can't give him enough credit,” said Phil Bannon, who lost his Conservative bid to represent Oak Ridges - Markham. “I would like to find out who's responsible for this chaos. Someone's got to be held accountable.”
Mr. Bannon said he alerted the party that the faith-based funding issue wasn't going down well with the public back in July -- but that his concerns were met with deaf ears.
Tory Bill Murdoch, who held on to his Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound seat, warned his party in September the position on school funding wasn't flying. After 17 years as MPP, he could sense the issue could sink the party.
“This is the worst-run election I've been in in 29 years [in politics],” he said. “It was ours to win.”
He pins the blame squarely on Mr. Tory's “spin doctors” and campaign managers, and says he'll stand by John Tory -- though he won't go so far as to give up his seat for him.
Mr. Tory, who is meeting with party members to discuss his future, acknowledged the school funding issue is “very much still there.”
He said his faith-based stand drew voter attention away from other issues.
Mr. Tory said the party “paid a price for that” and he has to bear the responsibility.
“The province clearly wasn't ready,” said Peter Woolstencroft, associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo. “I think he did not prepare his party for this, and a lot of his caucus was unhappy.”
Mr. Woolstencroft said springing a relatively new idea on voters at the outset of a campaign was not good timing.
The Conservative party will take some time to lick its wounds. But a major area it will need to focus on is urban issues, Mr. Jacek said. Once again, the Conservatives were unable to make inroads in Toronto, the most populous city and heart of the province's economy.
Most Conservatives kept mum Thursday, but some said they'll continue to stand by Mr. Tory, whatever his decision will be.
“I support him in his leadership, principles and integrity,” said Conservative candidate Michael Harris, 28, who lost his Kitchener - Conestoga riding by just 2,000 votes. “He's a man of conviction who wants to do good.”
Opting for Mr. McGuinty means “Ontario missed an opportunity to have a great premier, partly because of [Mr. Tory's] own mis-reading of the electorate on the faith-based schools issue,” said John Yakabuski, who was elected in the Renfrew - Nipissing - Pembroke riding.
John Tory will spend the next few days meeting with party executives and members of his caucus to determine the best way to proceed, said Blair McCreadie, president of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.
With a file from Canadian Press
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