Stephen Taylor interviews Frank Klees

Credit: http://www.stephentaylor.ca


Stephen Taylor interviews Frank Klees from Stephen Taylor on Vimeo.

Sandra Buckler joins Team Klees

Sandra Buckler has joined Frank Klees' leadership campaign as Director of Communications. Sandra is a very talented individual who did a great job serving Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party in the same role up until recently. She brings a wealth of experience to the Klees campaign and it is an hounour to have her as part of the team. Frank has put together a very strong campaign team over the past few weeks. He recently launched his website and held his campaign kick off and official office opening. He recently completed a successful tour of Northern Ontario and is now heading East to Ottawa. Membership sales have been coming in like crazy and support is building quickly. I think Frank Klees has all the right tools to become Premier of Ontario in 2011 and hope he gets the chance to serve the entire province in the same manner he has served the people of Newmarket-Aurora and York Region over the course of his career.
-Darryl

Photos of Frank Klees on the Campaign Trail

Below are some photos from the Frank Klees leadership campaign. Events include the official campaign office opening, a budget breakfast in Parkdale High Park and the CJPAC event in Toronto.
-Darryl

Supporters Attend PC Leadership Candidate Frank Klees’ Rally

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRANK KLEES CAMPAIGN OFFICE OPENING HELD TODAY

Supporters Attend PC Leadership Candidate Frank Klees’ Rally

(Klees HQ) Today, PC leadership candidate Frank Klees officially opened his campaign headquarters with volunteers and supporters in attendance.

“Today’s turnout at the campaign office opening was spectacular. I’m energized by all the people who are clearly excited by our leadership campaign and I’m thankful that they are ready to help me win the leadership of our Party. What is especially encouraging are the number of people who are here today who have never been members of a political party, and are joining our team,” said Klees.

Peter Shurman, M.P.P. (Thornhill) introduced Klees to the welcoming crowd by sharing with them the leadership qualities that make Klees the best choice to lead the PC Party of Ontario.

“Everyone in this room is committed to seeing Frank become the next Leader of our Party because we all know that he is the right choice for Premier in 2011,” said Shurman, who is also the co-chair of the Frank Klees Leadership Campaign. “There is no one else who has the experience in business, government and our Party. Frank Klees is ready to lead our Party today and our Province tomorrow.”

Klees is continuing his province-wide tour which this week will see him in Eastern and South Central Ontario, as well as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

For daily updates on the Frank Klees PC leadership campaign visit www.frankklees.com.

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For further information please contact:

Monika Bujalska, Press Secretary

Frank Klees Leadership Campaign

(416) 268-9100

monika@frankklees.com

www.frankklees.com

Cheryl’s meteoric rise from Popstars wannabe to X Factor judge has seemingly occurred with heady speed and meeting very little resistance. Of course, anyone who moves this far and fast up the ladder has done so with a lot of hard work behind the scenes. To quote Judy Garland, there is no such thing as an ‘overnight sensation’.

Cheryl has, with the team at Premier, manoeuvred her budding fame from being the tomboy-ish one in Girls Aloud to the status of household name. It is doubtful that there is anyone left in the UK who is not at least familiar with Cheryl Cole the brand – the face alone sells it.
With the fashion know-how accrued at Premier, Cheryl has graduated from girl-band fodder to style headliner. Premier has made sure that her style is at the forefront of every article written about her. Her wardrobe choices are exhaustively covered in the fashion press – just five years ago, editors would never have even considered including her on any ‘Best Dressed’ List - now she is at the very top of the fashion tree.

If you want proof what Premier can do for a celebrity’s image, watch any episode from the last series of ‘X Factor’. Premier have not focused on Cheryl’s beauty (which would have been the obvious route to take), but on her personality. It is Cheryl’s charisma is what makes her so watchable – she outshines everybody, and that includes the contestants. Now very much a fixture on the talent show, Simon Cowell has ensured that she stays for at least another series. He knows that ITV have a stellar selling-point in Cheryl: home-spun Geordie warmth combined with killer heels have proved an irresistible siren call to the British public.

Premier’s other success stories include signing a German model called Diane Heidkruger. When she wanted to go into acting, she became Diane Kruger. So far her acting credits include working alongside Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt. Models-turned-actresses are not meant to build such an impressive resume so quickly. Along with a long-standing affiliation with Chanel, It’s proof that the Premier formula works. Fashion sense + PR savvy = a client who is never out of the spotlight for long. Applying lessons learnt in the modelling world (eg: pro-active scouting for new talent; exploring and tailoring off-shoots of opportunity), Premier have taken the worlds of entertainment and fashion and made one indistinguishable from the other. Where the two used to be on friendly terms but very much separate, they now co-exist quite happily: think of Oscar night if you still need to be convinced that fashion and celebrity have never been closer. But Premier has recognised that a strong image in itself is not enough: if you want to stay in the limelight, you better have something to say that is worth listening to.

What Premier knows best is that if you want to get your message across, a little charm goes a long way. Premier has used its knowledge and influence in the fashion world, not only to secure a strong base of modelling talent, but has actively shaped the way we view celebrities. With the momentous success of Premier girls like Cheryl Cole, Diane Kruger, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Lucy Liu comes the advent of a new kind of celebrity. He or she may not be perfect, but they have an edge to them, which makes them different and that in turn makes them interesting. They are not pre-packaged and media-trained to within an inch of their lives – the best signings at Premier prove that vulnerability and imperfection capture the public’s interest like nothing else.

Premier has ensured that the cult of celebrity, while never going out of fashion exactly, continues in a new direction. Taking lessons learnt from the modelling industry, Premier has homed in on the importance of being earnest. It’s compelling, refreshing and very, very seductive.

HELEN TOPE

Faith-based plank not mine, Klees says

Just wanted to correct the record from this blog about Frank Klees. He is not the one responsible for this policy. Turnout is fantastic at the Frank Klees campaign office opening today.
-Darryl

Ian Urquhart

Frank Klees pleads not guilty.

In recent days, the veteran Conservative MPP for Newmarket-Aurora has been fingered in the media and in party circles as the culprit behind the platform plank promising public funding for "faith-based schools."

Not true, said Klees in an interview this week.

Klees acknowledged that he has been "a consistent advocate" of assistance for parents who choose to send their kids to private schools, religious or otherwise. "But I always felt it should be a tax issue."

That is, he favoured restoration of the private-school tax credit, introduced by the Mike Harris government and repealed by Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal regime.

In Klees's recollection, the party's platform committee – of which he was not a member – came up with several other options in a report last year, including doing nothing at all, going to a voucher system, and providing direct funding but limiting it to faith-based schools.

"The term `faith-based education' was never, ever in our vocabulary prior to that," he said.

Klees said he expressed his misgivings over the faith-based option at the time because he saw "nothing but problems" with it. "I still felt that it was better to leave it as a tax issue," he recalled.

But when the draft platform came to caucus this past spring, it included the faith-based schools option. Klees did not repeat his objections.

"Once you've expressed your view and you hear that the decision has been made, you do what you can to support the decision," he said.

Attached to the document that came before caucus was a compilation of past statements from McGuinty and Education Minister Kathleen Wynne favourable to the notion that other religious schools besides the Roman Catholics' deserved consideration for public funding.

"The idea at that time was that this would be a very safe position for our party to take," recalled Klees.

The Conservatives were further encouraged to think they were on safe ground on the issue when the platform (including the faith-based plank) was publicly released in early June and the initial reaction was muted.

"That seemed to signal that what we predicted was right," said Klees.

Nonetheless, Klees said he "implored" John Tory to get out in front on the faith-based schools issue and define it in his own terms before Liberals framed it in theirs.

However, according to Klees, Tory got conflicting advice from his "communications strategists," brandishing polls that said the issue was not a big concern to the public.

"The advice that he (Tory) received was that we should not focus any attention on this issue, that we should allow this to be dealt with quietly and focus on other issues," said Klees. "My warning to John was: you risk having the Liberals distort this proposal and you will find yourself on the defensive and your good intentions will end up causing us great difficulty."

But Tory accepted the advice of his campaign team and chose not to highlight the faith-based schools policy in his campaign speeches or advertisements, until near the end of the election.

"The rest is history," concluded Klees. Indeed it is.

Klees will not have the last word on how the Conservative election campaign was conducted. Others will contribute their views. Books may even be written on the topic.

But certainly Klees has provided food for thought – especially for Conservatives wrestling with the question of where they go from here.

---

Ian Urquhart's provincial affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at iurquha@thestar.ca

Ontario PC Party YouTube debate: Ask your question

Fantastic idea on the part of the Western Standard and Grassrootsvoice.ca In the US Election, the YouTube debates had a huge impact with Barack Obama being asked about talking with America's enemies. This is a great opportunity to put forward a question to these leadership candidates directly. Kudos to those involved in putting this together as well as the PC Party and Frank Klees, Tim Hudak, Christine Elliott and Randy Hillier for agreeing to participate. This is a great example of using technology to encourage grassroots democracy.
-Darryl

Ontario PC Party YouTube debate: Ask your question


We at the Western Standard have partnered up with the fine folks at Grassroots Voice in order to put together a YouTube question and answer period with the Ontario PC Party leadership candidates.

Do you have a question that you would like to ask each of the candidates? Send the question to us either by email, or by dropping a comment in our comment space.

We will post a few reminders, but the game plan is simple:

You send us a question (either by email or by leaving a comment).
We select 10 questions to ask to each of the leadership candidates.
Those selected will be asked to video record themselves asking the question (or, if you prefer, we can ask the question on your behalf).
We will send the questions to each of the candidates' camps that agree to participate, and then put together a YouTube video of the entire question and answer session.

http://www.westernstandard.ca
http://www.grassrootsvoice.ca

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AM Model Management (Germany)

Chic Management (Australia)
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Frank Klees launches new leadership website


http://www.frankklees.com


Frank Klees has just launched his new website at http://www.frankklees.com The site "Frank for Premier" includes a video message from Frank, a twitter and RSS feed, blog, podcasts, newsroom, event schedule, social media tools and action items to encourage membership sales, financial donations and of course policy. I think the site has a great look and highlights that Frank is running for Premier of Ontario as well as the leadership of the PC Party. I think the website is worth checking out and I look forward to seeing more updates as the race progresses.

A Message from Frank:

Official Leadership website: http://www.frankklees.com

Official Frank Klees Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/klees4leader

Official Frank Klees Facebook Supporter Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-Klees/65101657095

Official Frank Klees Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/frankklees

Official Frank Klees My Space: http://www.myspace.com/frankklees

Official Frank Klees LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/frankklees

Who Frank Klees Wants For The Local Sault Ste. Marie PC Party

Great interview...
http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=21853
-Darryl

Ignatieff admits he will raise taxes

Now that Ignatieff is revealing some of his policies, it is clear what the alternative is. Higher taxes, potential carbon tax and billions in new program spending. Clearly not the solution during these economic times.
-Darryl

Tax hike likely unavoidable, Liberal leader says

Record Staff
Web edition
CAMBRIDGE -- Federal taxes must go up to pay off Canada’s increasing debt, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said today.
The challenge, he said, is to ensure the economic recovery is not hurt by raising the taxes, Ignatieff told about 100 people at a Cambridge Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.
Ignatieff’s comments were in response to a question from Cambridge business leader John Bell, who wanted to known when the federal debt will be paid back.
“We will have to raise taxes,” but not at the expense of hurting the recovery from this recession. He added that “an honest politician” cannot exclude a tax hike as an option.
“I am not going to load a deficit onto your children or mine,” Ignatieff said.
His speech centred on the need for the federal government to unite people rather than divide them during these trying economic times.
He also slammed Tory Finance Minister Jim Flaherty for labelling this recession as mild.
“You wonder what country he is in,” Ignatieff said.
He criticized the federal governement for not quickly freeing money in the federal stimulus package. He said the government should give municipalities the money, as they are in a better position to know how to spend it.

Klees wins second ballot poll on PC Ontario Grassroots Voice

If you are looking for a good place to stay up to date on what is happening with the PC Ontario leadership race please visit http://www.grassrootsvoice.ca/
-Darryl

Frank Klees Interview with SooToday

Currently on tour in Northern Ontario.
-Darryl

Jim Flaherty introduces Christine Elliott

I think Jim Flaherty did a great job with this endorsement and introduction.
-Darryl

Viva Models (Paris)
Why Not Model Agency (Milan)
DNA Model Management (New York)
Satoru Japan Inc (Tokyo)
Nelly Models (Omsk)
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Harper Easter Greeting

Frank Klees Flickr Slideshow

Videos of Klees in the Legislature

Klees on federal coalition government



Alice Sheridan's Question to Premier on HST



Hospital Levy in York Region

Ontario PC Leadership Candidates

Slideshow with websites and social media links for candidates. Posted on Draft a Leader earlier today.

Randy Hillier Leadership Speech





Part 2

Premier Campbell probably wishes that his political legacy over the ages will be as the man who brought the Olympics to Vancouver.

However, he runs the risk that people will associate his reign as premier with – as a British newspaper put it - "blood-spattered streets littered with shell casings and corpses."

Vancouver, normally known throughout the world as a peaceful, beautiful place to live, might become perceived as the place where gangs run amok, shooting and killing with relative impunity.

"We've always been told by media experts to never admit that there is a gang war," the chief of police, Jim Chu, said last month. "Let's get serious. There is a gang war and it's brutal."

Under our system of government, it is the primary role of the premier of a province to do everything possible to keep the citizens safe. This buck stops with the Premier, not with any ministers, as the premier has the power to set the priorities of the provincial government and to appoint the men and women as ministers to achieve those priorities.

Given this primary duty, it is the responsibility of Premier Campbell to lead his ministers on trips to visit each and every MP in Parliament, to lobby for the legislation and resources (money and police) needed to stop the gang warfare in Vancouver's streets, and not to rest until this is achieved.

If the Premier does not reduce gangs substantially, and soon, then he runs the risk of becoming known at the man who was in charge when Vancouver became Gangcouver.

Frank Klees on the HST

A few people have asked me where Frank Klees stands on the Harmonized Sales Tax. Below is a video from the Legislature at Queens Park that should help outline his position on this issue.
-Darryl

Klees Interview with CFRB 1010 Bill Caroll on Leadership

Klees wants Province to Step in to Save Buttonville Airport

For Immediate Release April 6, 2009

Klees Calls on Province to Step in to Save Regional Airport

(Queen’s Park) Newmarket-Aurora MPP and PC Leadership Candidate Frank Klees today called on the provincial government to put up the $1.5 million needed to ensure that the Buttonville Airport in York Region continues to operate.

Following a decision by the Greater Toronto Airport Authority to cancel its capacity maintenance agreement with the regional airport - a loss of $1.5 million - the airport's management announced they would have no choice but to shut down the airport's operations.

"If the federal government refuses to ensure that this airport stays operational, then the provincial government should step in for economic development reasons," said Klees. "While the federal and provincial ministers debate whose jurisdiction this is, we risk losing 300 direct jobs and more than $80 million of economic benefit to the GTA. That makes no sense. "

Klees made the point that if the federal and provincial ministries of transport couldn't come to terms with the issue, then the McGuinty government’s Minister of Economic Development has a responsibility to show leadership on the issue.

"How can the McGuinty government stand by and watch 300 jobs and $80 million of economic benefit lost over an investment of $1.5 million?" said Klees. "At a time when this government is announcing billions in infrastructure projects to stimulate job creation and economic activity, this should be no more than a five minute discussion."

"This is just one more example of a lack of leadership and misplaced priorities. In my way of thinking, investing $1.5 million to ensure the viability of a regional airport that serves thousands of businesses and is a magnet for economic development in the GTA just makes good sense," said Klees.

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References:

Frank Klees, MPP

416 509 8999

· Hansard of Frank Klees’ exchange with the Minister in the Legislature attached

Hansard, april 6, 2009

Buttonville airport

Mr. Frank Klees: My question is to the Minister of Transportation. On February 26, my colleague from Thornhill put the question to the minister about the impending closing of the Buttonville airport as the result of the loss of some $1.5 million of support from the GTA. At that time, the minister stated very clearly that he believed that that airport is critical to the local economy as well as the economy of the GTA. He undertook to contact the federal Minister of Transport to see if he could at that time get support for the airport.

I would like to know from the minister, has he heard back from the Minister of Transport for the federal government? Is there going to be support for the Buttonville airport?

Hon. James J. Bradley: The member raises a very good question, of concern to all the members who particularly represent the area north of Toronto, including Michael Chan, my colleague; Mr. Shurman, who asked the question in the House; and the member directing the question to me.

Buttonville airport, in my opinion, plays a significant role as an airport for a lot of different reasons, one of them being a backup as well to the main airport, Pearson International Airport. I was disappointed, although they make their decisions for various reasons, to see that this had happened.

I did communicate with the federal minister about it by letter to John Baird, who, I would think, is equally concerned about that potential closing. I have not, to this point in time, received—or I have not seen—a letter of reply from him yet, but I know that he does have that concern, and I look forward with anticipation to his—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mr. Frank Klees: I would like to direct my supplementary to the Minister of Economic Development. The reason I wanted to speak to the Minister of Economic Development is that the implication of this airport closing is the loss of some 300 direct jobs and a loss of some $80 million directly in that local economy, at a time when the government is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure to stimulate economy, at a time when the economic development ministry is investing millions of dollars to save jobs and create jobs.

Regardless of whether the federal government is decisive on this, will at least the Ontario government, through the Ministry of Economic Development, be prepared to invest the $1.5 million to save 300 jobs and to save some $80 million worth of the economic enterprise in the—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Minister?

Hon. James J. Bradley: I cannot speak for the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, but no doubt the question is heard and will be in Hansard, and he will deliberate upon it.

Airports are the primary responsibility of the federal government. I think it’s the hope of everyone in the Legislature that the federal government will see fit to investigate this matter appropriately, and if there’s funding to be required or pressure to be applied, the federal government will do so. I can assure the member that those of us who are part of the Ontario government—and, certainly, I speak for the Minister of Economic Development and Trade—are interested in seeing that airport continue.

As soon as we get a response from the federal government, we’ll be in a better position to make decisions subsequent to that. I am optimistic that the federal government will respond positively and that Buttonville, as a result, will stay open.

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