TORONTO - Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory will break his own year-end deadline to outline plans for finding a seat in the Ontario legislature, a move critics say only further weakens his tenuous grip on the party.

"It's getting ridiculous, it's getting embarrassing, I think, for the party," said Bill Murdoch, who was kicked out of the Conservative caucus earlier this year for suggesting that Tory find another job.

"He has no credibility left now. How can he keep changing his mind as leader?"

Tory has been searching for a seat since his defeat in the 2007 provincial election, but none of his 25 caucus members have been willing to step aside.

Details of his plans will be "finalized" before the end of the year, but there will be no announcement until Jan. 9, Tory said in a brief statement Friday before leaving on a two-week trip to Africa.

"Since I am out of the province until early in the new year, and since the proposed resolution of this matter also involves others, we have fixed a specific date on which I will outline my plans and answer your questions," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to fill 18 vacant Senate seats before Christmas, a move which could present Tory with some previously unavailable strategic options for finding that elusive seat.

Opposition Leader Bob Runciman, who supports elected senators, is considered a possible contender for the upper chamber, as well as veteran Ontario Tory Norm Sterling.

Tory, who was unavailable Friday, refused to comment as late as Thursday on whether he would stay on as leader without a seat in the legislature.

But he admitted that the seat search had become a "distraction" for his Opposition Tories.

"I think while it's been a distraction, I'm very proud of the fact that as a team -- me and them -- we have worked very well together to actually do our job very effectively, notwithstanding the distraction," he said in an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press.

Tory's staff insists a report that he intends to stay and not worry about finding a seat until a suitable riding becomes available is "inaccurate."

Tory's inability to find a seat and his "dithering" on the matter has already done too much damage, said Murdoch.

"That means we're going to be rudderless for another three years," he said, referring to the possibility that Tory may be seatless until the 2011 election.

"We have to build the party -- and it has to come from within. So it's time to go, as far as I'm concerned."

There were no visible signs Friday of a dump-Tory movement, but disgruntled party members were complaining that his apparent indecision is driving more people away from the party.

"The unfortunate thing is that the longer this goes on, the less engaged people are in the party and trying to move things forward," said one veteran member of the party who requested anonymity.

Many Ontario Conservatives are putting their energy into supporting Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal wing of the party, another said.

Others expressed frustration that Tory is hanging on as leader and making it easier for Premier Dalton McGuinty to run for a third term in 2011.

"There is no real mechanism to challenge his leadership," said a longtime Conservative.

"No one is active any more. People have just folded their tent."

Some party members were so frustrated at Tory's leadership that they had been circulating copies of the Criminal Code of Canada, suggesting he was breaking the law by promising to try to find a job or other source of income for one of the PC caucus members so they would step aside for him.

It is an offence under Sec. 124 for anyone to "sell an appointment to or a resignation from an office," or for anyone who "receives, gives or procures ... a reward, advantage or benefit of any kind as consideration ... to secure the appointment of any person to an office."

Last September, Tory admitted the party was trying to find a job, appointment or other source of income for one of his caucus members so they could step aside for him during a caucus retreat in Barrie.

"It is a complication (for) anybody who would be stepping aside and I think that would apply to almost anyone who was being asked to give up their job in any circumstance," he said at the time.

"There are people who have said `Well, if I could get an appointment somewhere, whether it was provincial or federal (I might step down).' "