BRACEBRIDGE MAYOR SMITH CLAIMS HE’S MPP MILLER’S HEIR APPARENT WITH NO NOMINATION MEETING

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — Did Norm Miller jump or was he pushed out of his MPP’s seat at Queen’s Park?

Speculation follows a day after he announced he won’t be re-running in June and that Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith is claiming to be his heir apparent.

Or at least the Conservative candidate — which in Parry Sound-Muskoka is often the same.

All this without even a riding nomination contest.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario made the announcement themselves yesterday on their news website. (See it below.)

“Hi all. It’s with great excitement that I share the following news with you, I am the candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in the upcoming Provincial election in June, 2022 for the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka.”

Smith tweeted his fait accompli less than 24 hours after Miller’s announcement late Tuesday afternoon.

Miller, who on a personal level is still popular among many voters — having served  faithfully if not with distinction for 20 years — is now seen by many among his constituents as a political lame duck who has lost favour with the wider votership and even the confidence of some in his own party.

“Nice guy, but ….”

A perennial backbencher not destined, it appears, to join the Ford government cabinet.

Could he win again in 2022? Maybe. Maybe not given his party’s unpopularity at present.

Maybe Miller tired of toiling in the trenches.

Or of the premier, who he went out of his way to praise in his retirement notice, but who he didn’t always agree with he admitted more than once.

Yet true blue to the end, Miller cited the need to spend more time with his family as the reason for his early retirement from provincial politics.

The PCPO’S announcement was hardly news as the mayor of Bracebridge has had his eye on Miller’s job for years.

And it often made for awkward situations when Miller and Smith would welcome Premier Doug Ford to the riding for announcements and visits.

Like when the three of them posed for a photo-op at the cascading Bracebridge Falls during flooding in April 2019 and again this year when Ford announced the funding for the MUCC.

Folksy, Smith and Ford sometimes looked more comfortable and at ease in person than did Miller and the premier. Their body language more in synch and their politics attuned.

Asked at the June 28 MUCC announcement — where Miller helped his Bracebridge hometown score $16 from the province for an arena/library/community centre — why Miller wasn’t in cabinet, Ford said: “Good one.”

And went on to say the riding was “well represented” enough at table without the local MPP who was elected when the Tories had barely enough seats to call itself a party.

Premier Doug Ford answers question last June about about why MPP Norm Miller not in cabinet.

PCPO announces Smith as candidate without nomination meeting

PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — The Ontario PC Party is pleased to announce that Bracebridge Mayor, Graydon Smith, has been named as our candidate for the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka for the 2022 provincial election.

“I am incredibly honoured to have the opportunity to represent the place I’ve always called home, and the many great people and communities of this riding at Queen’s Park,” said Graydon Smith. “I am proud to follow in the footsteps of Norm Miller, who dedicated over twenty years of his life to public service.”

Graydon Smith was first elected as Mayor of Bracebridge in 2010 and currently serves as the Deputy Chair of the District Municipality of Muskoka. He is recognized for his leadership during devastating floods in 2013 and 2019, and throughout the pandemic as the President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).

“Graydon Smith has been an absolute champion for the people not only as Mayor of Bracebridge but also in his work representing Ontario’s 444 municipalities throughout the pandemic as President of the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO),” said Doug Ford, Leader of the Ontario PC Party. “Graydon will continue to be a strong voice for Parry Sound-Muskoka when he comes to Queen’s Park as your next MPP.”

Graydon is the past President of the Ontario Small Urban Municipalities (OSUM) and also served as a District Councillor for Muskoka and Town Councillor for Bracebridge from 2006 to 2010.

In addition, Graydon spent over a decade with the Kinsmen Club of Bracebridge, where he served as President and Project Chair for a variety of community-focused events. In 2019, he was selected as the Bracebridge Rotary Club’s “Citizen of the Year” and made an honorary Paul Harris Fellow.

Graydon was also the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013.

“We are proud to have strong candidates like Graydon join our PC team ahead of the next provincial election,” said Brian Patterson, president of the Ontario PC Party. “Graydon has committed years of his life to public service and will make an excellent MPP.”