NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.—Tory Leader Tim Hudak says the Liberal minority government is too Toronto centric at the expense of the rest of the province.

“It is not healthy for our province to have government that is overwhelmingly concentrated in the City of Toronto and its nearest suburbs,” an exhausted and somewhat chastened Hudak told a post election news conference Friday.

Hudak did not go into a lot of detail, but repeatedly said he wished his second-place party had broken through in Toronto.

“I am going to work hard in the weeks and the months ahead to earn the trust of more Toronto families, and to the City of Toronto I want you to know that the Ontario PC Party is there to fight for you,” he said.

The Tories won a few seats in the 905 area code but got shut out of Toronto. For the most part, their support is concentrated in southwestern and eastern Ontario. The party won 12 new seats for a total of 37, which together with NDP success puts the opposition in the driver’s seat with a total of 54 seats to the Liberals’ 53.

Hudak, who he won’t be resigning, acknowledged there will be soul searching among party brass about where the PCs went wrong.

Hudak insisted that Premier Dalton McGuinty’s minority government will last only as long as the opposition wants it to and that McGuinty can forget about raising taxes.

“Dalton McGuinty will remain as premier as long as he retains the confidence of the Legislature and no longer. He should take note in particular that it will be awfully difficult for him to get a tax hike,” he said.

“My message for Dalton McGuinty is very clear. Dalton McGuinty is on a short leash and we will hold that leash tight.”

Hudak did note he expects the Liberals to try to woo some of his members over to the government side in order to give it a majority.

Hudak said McGuinty has a reputation for doing “backroom deals.”

“From the Conservative Party point of view we have strong and dedicated MPPs,” he said. “They were elected because people want change and our goal is to keep Dalton McGuinty on a very short leash.”

“The difference between yesterday and today is simple. No longer can Dalton McGuinty make a unilateral decision without reaching out for support.”

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Hudak didn’t touch a question on plans for a new speaker, which is a significant matter because if he or she comes from the ranks the opposition, the two parties will be tied at 53 seats.

It was notable that Tory supporters were loath to criticize Hudak, with many noting that it took Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper several tries before he finally formed a majority government.

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