Political views
Numerous pundits have labelled Hudak as a blue Tory who is on the right-wing of the PC Party of Ontario, though Hudak has called himself a "purple Tory".[35][36][37] He has proposed income splitting for young couples and families, and campaigned to scrap the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, replacing it with a courts-based system of settling complaints.[38] Hudak's wife Deb Hutton was a senior advisor to Mike Harris, and he is seen by some as the new standard-bearer for the Mike Harris Common Sense Revolution.[39]When he was running for the PC leadership in 2009, Hudak told the Association for Reformed Political Action that he is pro-life and had signed petitions calling for the defunding of abortions.[40] However on July 18, 2011, during the lead-up to the October 6 provincial election, Hudak stated that he “may have” signed petitions calling for an end to abortion funding. He refused to answer follow-up questions from media regarding his views on abortion, but promised that he would not reopen the abortion debate if elected premier.[41]
In December 2012, Hudak announced that if he were to form government he would allow beer, wine and spirits to be sold at corner stores throughout the province. Hudak also said he would sell part of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario or some of its stores, to the private sector and is open to the idea of a full sell-off of the LCBO.[42] Although the McGuinty government had rejected the idea of selling alcohol in corner stores in the Summer of 2012, weeks after Hudak's announcement they launched a pilot project to allow alcohol to be sold in supermarkets.[43][44]
In April 2013, Hudak met with the National Post's editorial board to discuss education issues in Ontario. While acknowledging one's legitimate concerns of the current state discrimination in favour of one religion, ultimately was considered to be non-committed to making any changes to the current public/Roman Catholic education system.[45]
