You win some...

A week ago, Randy Hillier was nominated as the Ontario PC Candidate in my riding. Alas, this meant that I was not.

Needless to say, a party is bigger than any one individual, and I wish Randy well in October.

For those of you who were not present at the Perth, Ontario Arena on May 5th, here was my speech to the crowd:

"Ladies and gentlemen, Progressive Conservatives all:

I would like to begin by adding my own welcome to you here today. The first step in any change comes when people are ready to stand up for their beliefs, and make their voices heard. You have already done that by your presence here today.

Nomination speeches are as difficult to write as they are to give. In the space of a few scant minutes, you are required to say who you are, what you’ve done, and what you intend to do in the future. It is impossible to do justice to all that, so I won’t even try.

Like Mr. Brennan, I have worked alongside an MPP, and have first-hand knowledge of how Queen’s Park operates. In the time I worked for Harry Danford, who represented Hastings-Peterborough from 1995 to 1999, we worked on the Harris government’s Right to Farm Legislation, and Mr. Danford’s own bill recognizing United Empire Loyalist Day in Ontario. I am as proud of those accomplishments as Jay is of his work with Norm Sterling.

Like Mr. Hillier, I have been passionate about what I believe in, and have spoken far and wide in its defence. Seven years ago, I mounted a successful campaign in the Kingston Whig-Standard that stopped a move that would have deprived a local man of the right to use his own land to earn a living.

Our backgrounds are a matter of public record, and you have had time to know more about us than you might have wanted otherwise.I want to talk about the choice you have today, and why it matters.

The idea came from a conversation I had with someone here. When talking about this process, they had called it a ‘leadership race’, not a nomination. They also talked about electing a ‘leader’, not a candidate.

Some of you might think their comments to be confused – but I don’t. This meeting is about leadership. It is about electing someone who will lead our campaign in this riding – someone who will show leadership in the community for years to come. But it is also about the leadership you must show in the choice of candidate you make.

What does leadership mean? Do we know it when we see it?

Leadership exists in that rare connection between heart and head, where ideas are nurtured, and the will to see them through is sustained.

Leadership is about realizing that we are free to create our future, and possessing a vision of what that future can be.Leaders are prepared to stand up and offer that vision, while followers content themselves with playing it safe – in going along to get along.

Leaders do not content themselves with simply following the well worn path. Leaders do not accept that we cannot aspire to something better for ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Leadership is not about individuals, either. It is not about self-promotion or seeking of status – that is nothing more than selfish vanity. Leadership is about service to others, and not to oneself. It is about service to an idea, not to one’s ambition. It can only be measured by its raising of the common good, and not of one person’s ego.

Its legacy can be found in the improved lives and broadened opportunities of many, not in the raising of prideful monuments to the few.

Fellow Progressive Conservatives, I am here because there is a need to show leadership both here and in Queen’s Park. I am on this stage because I sincerely believe that I can provide it.

The challenges we face here, and across rural Ontario, are significant. I am under no illusions. I also believe that people are not well served when their choice is between not rocking the boat, and rocking it so violently it capsizes and sinks to the bottom.

To be part of rural Ontario is to be part of a minority – in Queen’s Park, among the public service, and in the general population. When you are in the minority, you are challenged to be more eloquent, more determined, more focused.

To sit as a rural MPP is to work with individuals who know nothing of your community, your history, your way of life, and who hold more votes – and more power – than those who understand your concerns.

You must deal with people who are prepared to spend five dollars on a cup of coffee to ensure a living wage for coffee growers on another continent, but are unwilling to recognize the financial hardship of the dairy farmer only an hour down the 401.

You can, as many have in the past, choose to go with the flow – never question, never criticize, but simply follow a well worn path until your time in the public spotlight is over. Your legacy, however, will be one of missed opportunities, and a future less promising and less secure than when you first took office.

You can also choose the path of confrontation. You can decide to fight without focus, to demand without a plan, to be aggressive without allies.

This path, too, has been tried, with many who have found themselves marginalized in the corridors of power, untrustworthy of influence and responsibility, only to languish embittered on the backbenches.

And through the combination of personal obstinance and pridefulness when it meets an equally stubborn reaction to frequent attacks, the people of a community are left with no champion, and no hope for an end to the long darkness in rural Ontario.

The reason I am in this race is because I believe in this party and this community, and I believe that our interests are worthy enough that they need to be explained and defended among those who have no knowledge or appreciation of who we are and what we represent.

Somewhere between these extremes there should be a place where people resolve to put their interests before themselves.

This may mean finding friends and allies who will help us in our challenge to sustain our farms, our schools, our hospitals and clinics, and our local governments. Sometimes, when friends and allies are few, it may mean raising one’s voice, not in hostility, but in a dogged determination.

Reasonable people can agree to disagree, and work toward compromise, but compromise should never include the future of our communities and a way of life. Knowing when to walk away from the table is as important as the negotiation itself.

On my website, in my campaign materials, and in conversations with many of you, I have made suggestions on how we can make a difference – in education, in crop insurance, in healthcare, municipal infrastructure, the local economy, and the environment.

How can we demonstrate to the people of this riding that we are fit to lead if we will not even talk about policy – the very ideas by which parties rise and fall?

My stance on issues is not a secret. I support reforms to crop insurance, and support the supply management system farmers depend upon. I want to see Highways #38 and #41 returned to provincial responsibility, as well as a plan to extend the 4-laning of #7 to Perth. I want to ensure legal protections for landowners. I want to see a commitment to our local economy, including a strategy to keeping the Hershey plant in Smiths Falls open – either by that company or by another operator. I want an investment in rural schools, including high-speed internet, so our kids have a chance to compete with those in downtown Toronto. I want a commitment to supporting more family medical practices in rural areas, offering free tuition to medical students willing to commit to a community, and by speeding up the accreditation of foreign-trained doctors to practice medicine in Ontario.

Again, when I speak of leadership, I speak of the ingrained knowledge and maturity that makes one able to navigate unchartered waters with a deft hand at the tiller. That is the leadership that a candidate must possess.

There is, however, another kind of leadership – just as important to our shared future. That is the leadership that each and every one of you must to exercise here today. You have come here either in support of one person, or as people who proudly support this party.

Regardless of what brought you here, you are here now. You have a vote, and in the privacy of a secret ballot, you will choose a candidate – potentially our next MPP.

Whatever you may have thought of your responsibility going into this meeting, I respectfully submit to you what it really is.

Your responsibility is to vote for the future of this riding and its people. Just as an MPP votes on behalf of their constituents, you are voting on behalf of not just yourself, but on behalf of every person who calls Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington home.

Regardless of who you choose, you need not justify that decision to the three people on your ballot. In fact, we are the last people you need justify your decision to.

But you must justify it to your family. You must justify it to the people you meet at church, or in your local grocery store. You must justify it to the people you meet at the gas station or the coffee shop. You must justify it to the people you meet when you attend meetings and fundraisers. You must justify it to your children and grandchildren, full of hope for their future.

Most of all, you must be able to look at yourself in the mirror and justify your decision to the person looking back at you.

In the end, leadership means sacrifice. It means sacrificing petty arguments and consuming anger in order to build a better life, and a stronger community.

This party has always done what is right for Ontario when we have placed our duty above our emotion, when we have aspired to something more. But we can only be as good as the choice you make.

I don’t confess to have all the answers, but I’m not afraid to offer some possibilities, and listen to the ideas of others. And I won’t promise that I will win every battle, but that won’t stop me from fighting them wisely and effectively.

All any of us can do is our best. For the three of us, that ends, for the moment, right now. For all of you, it begins.

Leaders, at their best, are always equal to the challenge they face. For the good of this riding, and of this party, I ask you to rise to the challenge now.

Good luck in your decision."