Tim Hudak

Tim Hudak is the Leader of the Ontario PC Party. He believes that all Ontario families deserve to live in the province with the best hospitals, best schools and best roads in all of Canada.

Tim wants to be Premier of Ontario to stand up for those families, give them the relief they deserve, set priorities for government and stick to them, and restore Ontario as the economic engine of Canada.

To that end, in May 2011, Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Party released changebook – their commitment to Ontario families to deliver the change they need.

Change that provides immediate tax relief and put more money back in your pocket.

Change that guarantees frontline services, like health care, will be there when families need them.

Change that cleans up the waste, the fraud and the secret deals that have become the hallmark of the Dalton McGuinty government. 

Change that will put our province back on track so that Ontario families can once again count on world class jobs, opportunities and services close to home.

Tim’s own life story and career path are a testament to the opportunities that come from being part of Ontario’s middle class. Tim and his sister grew up in a middle class household in Fort Erie. His dad was a high school principal and his mom was a teacher. Tim learned the importance of self-reliance and community involvement from his parents and grandparents who originally came to Canada from Eastern Europe in advance of World War Two.

Tim put himself through university working on the U.S. – Canada Border. He earned an Economics degree from the University of Western Ontario and was subsequently awarded a full academic scholarship to the University of Washington where he obtained his Masters of Arts in Economics.

Tim traveled across Canada as part of a management team helping a major international retailer grow its operations throughout Canada. Before entering public life, he worked for the Fort Erie Economic Development Corporation.

Tim’s motivation to enter politics came in the early 1990s, when he saw that his hometown, like most of Ontario, was having a tough time. Friends were leaving to find opportunities that were no longer available in the province they loved. He put his name on the ballot, and in the 1995 General Election, Tim was elected in the Ontario PC Party’s historic come-from-behind victory.

During his time serving the people of Ontario as a Cabinet Minister, Tim held three separate economic portfolios. As Ontario’s Tourism Minister in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Tim quickly pulled together leaders in the tourism industry and provided leadership to protect jobs and help Ontario businesses recover from the dramatic drops in travel that followed the attacks.

As Consumer and Business Services Minister, Tim led the charge to protect vulnerable seniors and families from fraud by comprehensively overhauling Ontario’s old consumer protection laws. Under Tim’s leadership, rules and regulations that were originally written on manual typewriters were finally updated to reflect the needs of consumers and entrepreneurs in the Internet age. As a result, Ontario consumers now have peace of mind that they can shop or pay their bills online with some of the strongest legal safeguards in Canada.

As Northern Development and Mining Minister, Tim cut Ontario mining taxes to the lowest in Canada; this created new jobs in the mining industry and made Ontario the best province in Canada for attracting new investments.

In 2007, Tim and his wife Debbie became proud parents with the birth of their daughter Miller. Despite the long hours and time pressures that come with a career in public life, Tim makes it a priority to spend as much time as possible with his family, and can often be found taking his daughter for walks near their home.

In his spare time, Tim is an avid student of economics and Canadian history. He was a volunteer sports coach, and loves basketball, soccer and football. Tim remains deeply attached to the Niagara countryside of his youth and enjoys mountain biking, outdoor cooking and kayaking on the Welland River near his home.