The opposition may inadvertently help out Ontario’s Liberal government by allowing one of its members to run for speaker of the legislature.
Newmarket’s Frank Klees has broken ranks and will be putting his name forward. If he wins, the Tories and the NDP will lose their combined majority 54 seats, ending up with 53 seats between them — the same as the Liberals.
The opposition parties had vowed not to put any candidates forward.
PC leader Tim Hudak says he offered Klees two prominent critic portfolios, but was turned down.
“Clearly I am disappointed, my colleagues that are here with me today are disappointed. We all hoped that Frank’s first goal would be to help us on the opposition benches and and keep this government on a short leash but Frank’s decision is to take another path.”
Klees says his decision has nothing to do with the PC election campaign or with the shadow cabinet jobs he was offered.
He came in second behind Hudak in the 2009 contest to replace then-leader John Tory.
Video: Brittany Gogo reports:
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