politics
Queen’s Park Watch: Frank Klees Tilts at the Speaker’s Windmill
MPP Frank Klees' apparent bid to shift the balance of power at Queen's Park by running for Speaker of the House raises one big question: what is he thinking?
It’s hard to understand what Frank Klees is trying to do.
It’s been two days since the Progressive Conservative MPP representing Newmarket-Aurora announced he would run for Speaker of the House, and already his bid looks dead in the water. However, the whole kerfuffle provides some insight into the intricacies of a barely minority government, Tim Hudak’s grip on his party, and how Queen’s Park works.
Traditionally, the Speaker of the House doesn’t vote except as a tie-breaker and in that case is expected to support the government. With the Liberals only one seat shy of a majority, a single PC moving from the Opposition bench to the Speaker’s corner would effectively neuter the ability of the opposition to bring down the Liberals.
That’s the reason the announcement outraged many Conservatives, who fear that a Klees speakership would once again give Dalton McGuinty free reign to install wind farms in town squares and teach your kids to cross-dress. While unveiling his shadow cabinet (where Klees had turned down important roles as critic for Transportation and “ethnic outreach” in favour of his run for Speaker), a surprised and annoyed Tim Hudak muttered something about being disappointed. Reportedly, language being used inside the caucus was less diplomatic.
Klees countered by saying he was an “independent thinker” who as Speaker would be ready to ignore 700 years of Parliamentary tradition and vote his conscience instead of the government line. In so doing he removes any possible reason for Liberal MPPs to vote for him in the upcoming secret ballot, while at the same time failing to buy cred with his Conservative colleagues.
Besides, Klees is a social conservative who has advocated de-funding abortion and who fought bitterly against same-sex marriage in Ontario, and the Grits won’t want anything to do with him beyond enjoying the turmoil he’s created chez Team Hudak. The Premier has said that Klees’ announcement notwithstanding, he won’t discourage any Liberals from running for the Speaker post, and four have announced their candidacy.
Given the current balance in the Legislature (53 seats, for the Liberals, 54 for the PCs and NDP combined), Klees can only start speaking for the House if all the Liberals and at least one Tory or NDP MPP votes for him. Since this won’t happen, the veteran politico is already hemming and hawing about backing out, suggesting that he’ll drop the idea if he can’t get 40 or more MPPs to jump on the Klees train by next week.
With it looking like a foregone conclusion that the support won’t be forthcoming, what is Klees’ game? He was successful in business before he got into politics, and he doesn’t need the bump in pay or the Queen’s Park pied-a-terre that comes with the job.
And, win or lose, grabbing for this particular brass ring won’t make him any friends. Chances are he’s already gotten himself assigned to the table by the bathrooms at the PC holiday party, and in light of his right-wing views on social issues, the Grits aren’t going to invite him around for tea anytime soon. The NDP have even less reason to have truck with Klees, and Andrea Horwath is just watching the whole thing with a Cheshire Cat smile and the quiet satisfaction of knowing that her caucus actually listens to her.
It’s possible he’s doing it to piss off Tim Hudak, who beat him in the 2009 Progressive Conservative leadership race and then followed up by losing what should have been a shoo-in of an election. However, even if the two aren’t besties, that seems an unlikely and petty motive for a long-time parliamentarian like Klees.
No, the most likely reason Klees wants to be Speaker is pretty much what he says it is—that he thinks his experience could best be used in that role.
At 60, Klees has 16 years of MPPing under his belt. With the Tories unlikely to see the inside of the premier’s office before 2015 at the earliest, Klees may be looking ahead and considering that as he makes his final approach to retirement his time could be spent in pursuits more noble than opposing things. It wouldn’t be a bad exit strategy to spend a few years as Speaker, a prestigious role and a nice change of pace for someone who’s been legislating as long as Klees. And his experience in cabinet (under Mike Harris), as whip, and in opposition would probably serve him and the Legislature well.
If that’s the reason Klees has tossed his hat into the ring, it’s rather admirable, if quixotic. Still, it’s hard to believe he couldn’t predict the shitstorm that his candidacy would cause nor the attendant improbability of victory.