  on january 23, 2004, the progressive conservative party of ontario leader ernie eves announced his intention to step down as leader before the fall of 2004. eves was elected party leader in the party's 2002 leadership election, and became premier of ontario. he led the party to defeat in the 2003 provincial election. under the ontario pc party constitution, a leadership election could not be called until eves submitted a formal request to the party executive. he did not do so until june, and a few days later, on june 13, the party executive called a leadership election for september 18, 2004. the leadership vote was won by john tory with approximately 54% of the vote on the second ballot. ==candidates== *jim flaherty was the provincial minister of finance under mike harris, and eves' minister of enterprise, opportunity and innovation. he was the runner-up to eves in the 2002 leadership election. flaherty was a social conservative, whose 2002 campaign focused on law and order and neo-conservative wedge issues. *frank klees was the chief government whip in the harris government, and minister of tourism and of transportation in the eves government. his campaign criticized the harris-eves government for its reliance on unelected advisors, and promised to return the party to the grassroots. he also argued for health care reform, particularly the introduction of private health care for those who can afford it. *john tory was principal secretary to bill davis, who was premier of ontario from 1971 to 1985. tory had been the ceo of rogers cablesystems. he ran a strong campaign for mayor of toronto in the 2003 civic election. his campaign leaned more to the political centre and appealed to red tories. ==possible candidates who did not run== *elizabeth witmer has been a waterloo, ontario member of provincial parliament (mpp) since 1990. she served as minister of health and then minister of the environment under mike harris, and minister of education and deputy premier under ernie eves. witmer was a candidate in the 2002 race that selected eves. she had considered running in the 2004 race, but decided to endorse john tory instead. *john baird, mpp for nepean since 1995, was mentioned as a possible candidate, but decided to supp
2004_elections_in_Canada 2004_in_Ontario Progressive_Conservative_Party_of_Ontario_leadership_elections