Ontario Tory MPP Frank Klees listens to debate at Queens Park in February of 2005.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The Frank Klees saga is over.
Sources within the Progressive Conservative Party told The Globe and Mail the veteran MPP would end his bid for Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, just three days after he launched it. He confirmed the announcement on Friday afternoon, and will likely be given a role in Tim Hudak's shadow cabinet – something he rejected at the start of the week.
Mr. Klees sent ripples through Queen's Park on Tuesday, when it was revealed he had defied Mr. Hudak's request that no members of the PC caucus run for Speaker. If elected to the job, Mr. Klees would have changed the balance of power in the Legislature – leaving the opposition with the same number of seats as the governing Liberals, who fell one seat short of a majority government in the Oct. 6 election.
But it quickly became apparent that he faced very long odds in the race against as many as four Liberal MPPs who are also seeking the Speaker's chair. Unlikely to get one or two votes from the opposition benches, Mr. Klees would need every Liberal vote – requiring even the other candidates to vote against themselves.
Mr. Klees may have expected Dalton McGuinty to ask his party's candidates to step down, but officials from the Premier's Office quickly poured cold water on that prospect.
With other PC MPPs having angrily denounced him this week, Mr. Klees' return to the fold stands to be awkward. But senior Tories have stressed for the past several days that Mr. Hudak was leaving the door open for a return.
Adam Radwanski