ballot to prevent him from advancing. Lou Parsons, a senior Miller adviser, later acknowledged, "We wouldn't have won it against Dennis [...] Our winning strategy was always to be against Larry ... and in the end we were lucky." Timbrell reluctantly endorsed Grossman after the results were confirmed by a recount. He however did not bring enough delegates on the third ballot and that resulted in Miller's victory. He was retained in Miller's Cabinet as minister of municipal affairs and housing with responsibility for women's issues. Second leadership campaign The Progressive Conservative Party under Miller's leadership was reduced to a narrow minority government in the 1985 election. Following a cabinet shuffle on May 17, 1985, Timbrell retained his previous postings and was additionally appointed provincial secretary for resource development. Miller's government was defeated in the House in June, 1985. In opposition, Timbrell served as House leader of the Official Opposition and his party's critic for education and women's issues. Miller resigned as leader, and the party called another leadership convention for November 1985. This contest was an extremely divisive struggle between Timbrell and Grossman, which exposed deep divisions in the party. A third candidate, Alan Pope, drew attention to the animosity between the candidates with his slogan, "Don't choose sides, choose Pope". Alan Eagleson was a co-chairman of Timbrell's campaign. In this leadership race, Timbrell announced he would not support the full funding of Catholic schools (which had previously been agreed to by all parties in the legislature) unless amendments were put forward guaranteeing entry to non-Catholic teachers and students. Norm Sterling, an inveterate opponent of Catholic school funding, derided Timbrell's position as opportunistic and crossed over to Grossman. Pope finished third on the opening ballot and some believed that he could have given Timbrell a second-ballot victory over Grossman, though Pope chose not to endorse either side. Grossman defeated Timbrell on the second ballot by nineteen votes, effectively ending Timbrell's career in provincial politics. He did not seek re-election in 1987, as his two unsuccessful leadership bids had left him with a debt of $250,000. Despite no longer being an MPP, Timbrell was seen by many as the front runner to succeed Grossman in the 1990 Ontario PC Leadership Race, but he chose not to run, instead supporting the candidacy of Dianne Cunningham, who would eventually lose to Mike Harris. Private sector career Timbrell served as president of the