Two of Ontario's three major political parties are now represented by Hamilton politicians after Niagara West-Glanbrook Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Hudak won the party’s leadership contest on the third ballot.

“I am honoured and humbled in the trust you have placed in me,” said Mr. Hudak in his early evening victory speech at the Markham Convention Center Saturday.

Mr. Hudak, in his victory speech, and in answering reporters’ questions, warned Premier Dalton McGuinty that his “days are numbered” in office.

“It’s time for a change,” said Mr. Hudak, the 21st leader of the party. “We are taking one step forward to victory in 2011. We will make Ontario the economic powerhouse once again.”

But Liberals were already warning the public that Mr. Hudak is following in the footsteps of former Premier Mike Harris driving the party back into hard-right position.

“We have seen in this Conservative campaign, they are divided, they are fighting each other, and they are looking for policies that will pit one group of Ontarians against another,” said Liberal cabinet minister Chris Bentley.

Premier Dalton McGuinty, in a statement, congratulated Mr. Hudak on his win.

Mr. Hudak, 41, with a well-oiled campaign team that included backing from Mr. Harris and a number of former Harris workers when he was premier from 1995-2002, won the contest on the third ballot with 5,606 votes out of 10,250 votes cast over social conservative MP Frank Klees, 58. The winning candidate needed 5,125 votes from the estimated 40,000 eligible voters in 107 ridings. Mr. Hudak’s campaign boasted they had representation in all of Ontario’s ridings.

The veteran MP, first elected in 1995 when he was 27, had a surge of support from the Niagara-Hamilton ridings. His local riding, Niagara West-Glanbrook voted over 90 per cent for its native son. All of Hamilton’s ridings, Burlington, Haldimand-Norfolk and Halton overwhelming backed Mr. Hudak.

Mr. Hudak, with his ‘Right for Ontario’ theme, was the acknowledged frontrunner entering the leadership contest after a sometimes bruising three-month campaign that saw MPPs Randy Hillier, Christine Elliot, and Mr. Klees attack Mr. Hudak for his rightward policies, including revising the Human Rights Commission. Mr. Klees and Mrs. Elliot both lambasted the proposal, arguing it will give the Liberals the issue they need to paint the Tories as insensitive to Ontarians, similar to what the Liberals did to the Tories in the 2007 provincial campaign when former leader John Tory pitched faith-based funding for schools.

Mr. Hudak took the lead on the first ballot earning 3,511 votes, compared to Mr. Klees 3,093, Ms. Elliot 2,728 and Mr. Hillier’s 1,013 votes. In the Tories preferential voting system, where voters select their first, second and third choices, the Lanark MPP dropped out of the race. The self-described dark horse candidate then joined Mr. Hudak and insisted his supporters do the same.

On the second ballot, Mr. Hudak out-gained Mr. Klees 4,128 votes to 3,299 votes. Ms. Elliot was third with 2,903 votes. Ms. Elliot had encouraged her supporters to make Mr. Hudak their second and third choices in an anybody-but-Klees effort.

With Mr. Hudak’s win, he joins NDP leader Andrea Horwath, of Hamilton Centre, as representatives from the Hamilton area, the first time that has occurred in the municipality’s history. Premier McGuinty is from the Ottawa area.

Earlier in the day, the party paid tribute to Mr. Tory, who urged the party to unite behind its chosen leader. He encouraged the Tories to welcome all types of people, with their different faiths, and sexual orientation, rather than “narrowing the definition of what a Progressive Conservative is.”

Mr. Tory, who is considering a run against Toronto Mayor David Miller in the next municipal election, said during his time as leader he wasn’t the beneficiary of a united P.C. party, which ultimately hurt its members.

As part of Mr. Tory’s farewell tribute, former leader Bill Davis, 80, who led the Tories during its glory days, said the new leader must include the ideas of his vanquished competitors if he wants to be successful.
“Go into the next election as a united party,” he said.

He also praised Mr. Tory, telling the packed convention that Mr. Tory was the best premier Ontario never had.