Editorial
The Tories have a message, if people want to listen

We agree with the wisdom expressed by local provincial politicians that it's not wise to read to much into the results of Thursday's three byelections.

In the first place, the Liberals' majority at Queen's park was not in danger. As well, as Vaughan - King - Aurora MPP Greg Sorbara pointed out, it's not easy to get people out to vote in inclement winter weather, especially for byelections.

If things go according to the script set out by Premier Dalton Mcguinty, we're all going to have our chance to pass judgement on this government in October, and we all hope the weather will be a bit nicer.

But if there was a loser in last week's results, we would say it's the Progressive Conservatives. The New Democrats were the big winners, picking up one of the contested seats in York South - Weston. As we all know, gaining even a little strength in the legislature is good news. The impact of the vote was sort of neutral for the governing Grits. True, they lost a seat, but they held on to their seat in Markham. That should be good news, as far as they are concerned. It's nothing astonishing for a governing party to take a hit in byelections.

But with a general campaign just a couple of months away, one might have expected more strength from the Tories. True, they held their seat in Burlington, and both York North MPP Julia Munro and Sue Sherban, who will be seeking the PC nomination in the new riding of Oak Ridges - Markham, spoke of the strong campaign put on by standard bearer Alex Yuan in Markham. A gain for the Tories should have been in the cards under those circumstances, but it wasn't.

Thursday's results decided very little, although it should be a wake-up call to the Conservatives that they may have to dig a little deeper to get their message out. And the Liberals would be wise not to get cocky. There were too many promises made in 2003 that have not been fulfilled, especially the pledge not to raise taxes (we are all still paying the controversial health care premium). That is one message that Conservative leader John Tory will have to deliver, and one that McGuinty will have to be on guard for.