Hamilton in the running to host PC leadership convention
March 10, 2009
Daniel Nolan
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/527739
Hamilton has a serious chance of hosting the Progressive Conservative leadership convention that will choose a successor to John Tory.
The party’s executive, headed by Stoney Creek resident Ken Zeise, is only looking at Steeltown and a few sites around Toronto for a June convention.
“It’s a good possibility,” Zeise said today. “Hamilton is one of the sites that we are familiar with because we’ve been there before. We’ve been there a couple of times, but we haven’t been there in a while. Is it a leading possibility? Sure.”
He said the party has been in contact with Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc. and learned the Hamilton Convention Centre is available for June 26-28. Zeise said they have also been in contact with an official from the Sheraton hotel.
“They are being very accommodating,” he said, though he worries Hamilton might not have enough hotel rooms for delegates. “You have to book these things 12 or 14 months in advance, and here we are trying to do this in four months. It’s not easy. We’re scrambling.”
A decision on the location will be made March 22.
The Conservatives need a new leader after Tory was defeated in a byelection last Thursday in a Lindsay-area riding. The embattled leader, who did not win a Toronto seat in the 2007 general election, resigned Friday.
A Hamilton-area candidate might be in the running to succeed Tory.
Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP Tim Hudak’s name has been mentioned ever since Tory stumbled in the 2007 election, but he told reporters at Queen’s Park it was “too early” to talk about being a candidate.
Zeise said the party’s executive decided to move quickly because it wants a new leader by Canada Day.
“We want the new leader to do the barbecue circuit and be able to put together their staff and to be ready for the resumption of the legislature in September,” he said. “We’re going to demonstrate to everyone in Ontario we’re ready to go.”
If Hamilton is selected, it will be the second leadership contest it has hosted this year. The NDP were in town this past weekend. Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath was elected their new leader.
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