Laurie Scott to Seek Tory Nomination

You might be able to take the girl out of politics, but you sure can’t take the politics out of the girl. Last week Laurie Scott, former Conservative Party MPP for Haliburton – Kawartha Lakes – Brock, announced that she would seek her party’s nomination to run in the next provincial election, mandated for the fall of 2011.
Just 13 months ago Scott resigned her seat to make way for the parachute candidacy of her thenleader, John Tory. Two months later Tory was humiliated by Liberal Rick Johnson, and subsequently resigned from politics. Scott was then appointed to lead the team of Conservatives in preparing for the 2011 election, as well as to provide liaison work between the Caucus and the office of her new
leader, Tim Hudak. In an interview with the Voice, Scott admitted that she was completely taken aback in January of 2009 when she resigned and John Tory’s campaign began, at how upset and angry her constituents were at her decision. “I knew that my resignation would be controversial, but I genuinely believed
that I was doing the right thing for my party, and for the riding. To have a great guy, a strong Leader of the Opposition, and as far as I was concerned the next Premier of the province representing Haliburton was in my opinion a great opportunity for us. “It became a very emotional issue for me, and for many of my friends and supporters. I was so upset people were feeling that way, and I have to apologize to them for that. My intent was to do the right thing for the party. But obviously that message was lost, and people seemed to think that I was leaving them. It was a very difficult time.” Laurie Scott and her family have a long history in Haliburton’s Conservative Party. Her father Bill Scott was the federal MP from 1968 until 1993. Before that he was Reeve of Snowdon Township and a well known businessman and grocery store owner in Kinmount. “People knew my Dad was
a hard worker who was extremely close to his constituents. They used to say that ‘he certainly knew the price of meat’, meaning he knew how people lived, what they could afford, and what they couldn’t. He really believed in service, in giving back, and he taught me a lot about that.” Bill Scott was personally honoured by Brian Mulroney in the 1984 election when the soon-to-be-Prime Minister paid a special visit to the Kinmount Fair during the campaign and lauded Scott as the
best example of a hard-working effective local MP Mulroney had in his caucus. The riding was a safe Tory seat, so Mulroney had little political advantage to gain,
but he made the trip anyway. Laurie Scott hopes that her constituents will realize that “I too believe first and foremost in community service and hard constituency work. My job will be to reassure the voters that I’ve always had their interests at heart in the decisions I’ve made.” In the by election that sent Rick Johnson to Queen’s Park his vote totals didn’t increase significantly over the 2007 results, where he lost to Scott by almost 10,000 votes. But the Conservatives sat
on their hands rather than vote for the parachuting Mr. Tory.