"If I tried to describe to you what an honour it is to lead this party, which has been so much a part of my life for so long, I'm not sure I would be able to put it into words," John Tory said at the outset of last weekend's address at the Ontario Progressive Conservative convention. "It's about more than just politics ... It's about a sense of pride in our history of building Ontario."

Few would question his sincerity. Mr. Tory fits like a glove into his namesake party, or at least its pre-Mike Harris identity -- from his Rosedale roots and his business background to his role in the Big Blue Machine of the Bill Davis era. It's easy to understand why he wanted to lead the Conservatives; it just seemed natural.

What's less clear, 17 months after taking over from Ernie Eves, is why he wants to be premier.

In that same speech, as in most he gives, Mr. Tory launched into a series of extremely broad attacks on the governing Liberals. Dalton McGuinty, he charged, "diminishes the office he holds by blatantly breaking promises," running a "train wreck of incompetent government." The Premier also lacks "integrity," doesn't care about the jobless, overtaxes and underdelivers. And by the way, he's also "cynical" and unwilling to make "difficult decisions."

If a speechwriter were brought in to construct an attack on an opponent he'd never heard of for a politician he'd never met, this is the sort of stuff he might come up with - all sounding like it comes straight from a handbook of generic opposition rhetoric. And that's a sign that, for all the bluster, Mr. Tory has yet to figure out what exactly it is that he wants government to do differently.

On one issue - law and order - he has genuinely set his party apart. Seizing on public concern over gun violence in Toronto, he made the issue his own while Mr. McGuinty and Mayor David Miller were still downplaying the problem. Today, he can take credit for forcing the government into action, even if recent initiatives (including a program targeting at-risk youth) make it harder to attack Mr. McGuinty's ambivalence.

The Tories are working hard to create another wedge issue by reviving the promise of a tax credit for parents sending their kids to religious schools, a Harris-era policy scrapped by Mr. McGuinty. But it didn't exactly pay huge dividends for them in the last election, and besides, it's a pretty marginal issue to build your identity around.

On most issues that aren't marginal, Mr. Tory hasn't figured out how to present a clear alternative to the Liberals. Instead, he seems to oppose for the sake of opposing (the Liberals' spending is too high, except when they're not spending on some constituency he sees votes in), while offering platitudes about accountability and promoting free enterprise. Tellingly, a Tory press release goes out every time a factory shuts down, accusing the Liberals of being unsympathetic to Ontarians' job losses - but beyond feeling their pain, it's unclear what Mr. Tory would do differently. And while it might be a bit early before the next election for going public with specific policy ideas, the clunky white papers the Tories have released suggest they're a long way from having them even in private.

One of Mr. Tory's better bets to set himself apart is probably health care. Merely advocating more public-private partnerships, as he has done to date, won't be enough - especially since the Liberals, who once railed against "P3" hospitals, have been much more open to them in government. Instead, he'll need to follow through on recent hints about giving the private sector a greater role in delivery with actual specifics.

That means a break from the moderate persona that got him elected PC leader in 2004. But Mr. Tory needs to recognize that circumstances have changed.

Then, the Liberals were closing out a rocky first year in office, the "promise breakers" tag still dogging them in the wake of their health care tax. If those struggles had continued, Mr. Tory could easily have been sold as a superior alternative who would nevertheless maintain the Liberals' centrist values.

Now, the Liberals have gotten their act together. They're unspectacular, but reasonably efficient -- Mr. McGuinty having grown into office, as evidenced by this week's union staredown. Ontarians may not be thrilled with them, but it's unlikely they'll opt for change just for change's sake.

To this point, McGuinty Lite is all Mr. Tory is offering. Strip away the rhetoric, and one senses he has less of a problem with the Liberals' overall direction than a few small gripes with specific policies. Considering that wouldn't be enough for most people to vote against them - let alone run against them - he has a long way to go.