Timothy Patrick Hudak (born November 1, 1967) is a former Canadian politician who led the Ontario Progressive Conservative (PC) Party from 2009 to 2014.

His father was a high school principal whose parents came to Canada from Eastern Slovakia (villages Lubotin and Circ in Stara Lubovna district) in advance of World War II.

[8] The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government under Mike Harris, and Hudak was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Health Jim Wilson.

[9] Hudak was re-elected with a 5,878 vote margin in the redistributed riding of Erie—Lincoln in the 1999 provincial election, and was named Minister of Northern Development and Mines on June 17, 1999.

During his time in the Ministry, he awarded nearly $300 million to rebuild aging infrastructure in communities across the province through SuperBuild's Sports, Culture and Tourism Partnership fund.

[12] In August 2005, PC leader John Tory appointed Hudak to the lead role of Official Opposition Finance Critic.

[16] During the campaign, Hudak was quoted as saying that if the PCs want to regain government, they would have to make inroads in major cities and begin "reaching out to new Canadian communities....

[18] In August 2009, shortly after taking power, Hudak criticized the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) after a string of controversies.

In his speech, Hudak attacked the Liberals for unnecessary spending at eHealth and OLG,[21] as well as giving a $263-million grant to a video game developer.

[22] During the fall 2009 legislative session, Hudak launched one of his first major platform pieces, the PC Caucus Small Business Jobs Plan, which he stated was essential to Ontario's economic recovery.

[27] In line with his plan for the North, Hudak commented that “Reducing Northern Ontario's high energy costs is key to making industries there more profitable and preventing future mill closures.”[28] In March 2010 by-elections, the Tories retained retired MPP Bob Runciman's riding of Leeds-Grenville, boosting their support by 19 points to 67 per cent of the vote.

Offering examples of sole-sourced contracting, Hudak hammered the government for broken promises and removing money from front-line care.

[33] In August 2010, Ontario Ombudsman André Marin exposed a bylaw that enables local health bureaucrats to hold closed-door meetings on hospital closures.

[34] On May 26, 2011, Hudak proposed a highly controversial plan to implement mandatory street-cleaning "work gangs" made up of provincial inmates, replacing current voluntary programs.

[36] Hudak faced criticism from party members after the Progressive Conservatives won only one out of five seats being contested in a series of by-elections on August 1, 2013.

Hudak and the PC face a subsequent lawsuit over statements made on its website brought forward by the Working Families Coalition.

[41] Hudak's Progressive Conservatives consistently led in public opinion polls for months leading up to the October 6, 2011, provincial election.

Hudak announced he would resign as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party after losing to Kathleen Wynne's Liberals, which secured a majority government, but said he will continue as an MPP.

[53][54][55] 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.

[57] When he was running for the PC leadership in 2009, Hudak told the Association for Reformed Political Action that he is anti-abortion and had signed petitions calling for the defunding of abortions.

[58] 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.

Hudak 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.