Alarm over Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s controversial “right-to-work” policy is spreading among party activists, MPPs and increasingly skittish new candidates.

In an unusually candid memo obtained by the Star, 11 would-be MPPs express concern that Hudak’s U.S.-style anti-union measures could hurt them in a provincial election expected as early as spring.

Echoing fears raised in a Jan. 22 conference call of 300 party stalwarts and earlier by MPP John O’Toole at last September’s Tory convention, the candidates worry that radical labour reforms will be a tough sell to voters.

“Part of being smarter means we should recognize that campaign policies need to be flexible in order to allow for the type (of) precision needed to maximize regional support,” says the draft memo, written by Timiskaming-Cochrane Tory hopeful Peter Politis with input from the 10 other Northern Ontario nominees.

“I’m sure we agree that messaging of policies and being prepared for the counter-message is the most important aspect of our campaign going forward,” he writes.

Politis warns that “critical wedge issues” must be “messaged effectively in order to maximize the impact in our region while not hurting the impact of other PC seats in other regions.”

“The ‘right-to-work’ policy also needs to be messaged effectively to maximize its impact in the south without sacrificing 11 seats in the North that can very well be the difference between a majority or minority government.”

The candidates’ memo is the latest sign of an internal PC schism over a pledge to eliminate the Rand Formula, which requires all workers in a unionized workplace to pay dues, regardless of whether they join the union.

Harking back to the party’s heyday, the PC standard bearers urge Hudak to follow the centrist footsteps of former premier Bill Davis, who governed from 1971 until 1985 and remains popular to this day.

“Once the messaging is fine-tuned, a northern tour may be in order where, like our great patriarch Premier Davis, you show off the team of passionate northerners now representing the Northern Progressive Conservative party who are going to get out the vote needed to bring the change everyone wants,” the missive continues.

“Looking forward to holding a think-tank on how best to position our policies and messaging with you in the near future,” it concludes.

Both Hudak’s office and party brass said they had not yet seen the letter, though a conference call with some of the northern candidates was held early last month in which the same matters were broached.

Despite dissension in the ranks, the Tory leader said Wednesday that Ontario’s labour laws need to be updated and he will not back down from making changes if elected.

“I’m tired of other countries and states eating our lunch and taking away our manufacturing jobs,” said Hudak while campaigning in Thornhill, where a byelection will be held Feb. 13, along with one in Niagara Falls.

“We need to modernize our laws so we can give more opportunities to young people in this province and grow businesses. In Ontario, we’re winning the race to the bottom,” he said.

On Tuesday, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s governing Liberals released a secretly recorded speech given by veteran Durham MPP O’Toole on Sept. 22 at the PC convention in London.

“Here’s the main issue — I think it might be the wrong issue — if anyone mentions the word ‘Wisconsin,’ we’re screwed,” the MPP said, referring to right-wing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s curbs on union powers.

“You think Working Families is bad now, it could be worse,” O’Toole said of the coalition of anti-Tory unions that has helped swing the 2003, 2007, and 2011 elections to the Liberals with deft attack ad blitzes.

“Because a lot of the things we’re talking about could be dealt with by language. Here is what I suggest: we need to strengthen workplace democracy.”

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Two weeks ago, Dave Brister, the Tory candidate for the Essex riding, was fired after he criticized MPP Monte McNaughton, the Tory labour critic, on Twitter for promoting the “right-to-work” proposal.

“I was asked to recant my opposition to RTW legislation in exchange for retaining my position & I refused to do so,” Brister tweeted at the time.

The Tories said he was dismissed for publicly attacking McNaughton, not for opposing the policy.

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