Manitoulin Tories rally behind Doug Ford
TORONTO—The weekend contest to chose a new leader for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party did not go quite as planned, with controversy, challenges and complaints over a complicated process, but late Sunday evening challenger Christine Elliott finally brought close to the proceedings by conceding defeat and recognizing Doug Ford as the party’s new leader to replace the ousted former leader Patrick Brown.
Mr. Ford was magnanimous in victory, issuing a statement Sunday evening.
“Leadership races can be tough on political parties, and for the candidates that compete in them. For me, there was no tougher part than running against Christine Elliot (sic). I have been fortunate to call her my friend over the last two decades, and with good reason,” he said in the release. “There is no one I can think of who better represents exactly what we need in public service: she is a dedicated mother, intelligent leader and hard working volunteer who has shown tremendous compassion through her work with the Abilities Centre. Lastly, her commitment to our party is second to none.
“While we were opponents for a few short days, today we are standing together, united with one goal: defeating the politically corrupt Wynne Liberals and giving relief to the every day people Kathleen Wynne has left behind. Our party needs Christine more than ever and we are fortunate to have her on our team as we get to work to achieve this goal.”
Under the online preferential ballot system used by the Tories in this historically short leadership campaign, each member had one vote, but the votes were weighted by distribution among 100 electoral votes per riding in order to provide a broad voice across the province. Voters chose their preferred candidates in order, from most preferred to least, and when a candidate was dropped from the bottom of the list, the second choices on their ballots were then allocated.
Christine Elliott, who has run twice before for the leadership, had at first challenged the results as she alleged that around 1,500 votes had been allocated to the wrong ridings. After review the party executive determined that they did not believe the error would have changed the final result.
Despite the challenges of the short campaign, it did not take long for many PC stalwarts to come together in a show of unity. Interim leader Vic Fedelli, an Elliott supporter, issued a definitive “he’s the boss” as to where he now stands.
“It was a long night,” admitted Algoma-Manitoulin PC riding president Jib Turner of Little Current. “It was an interesting night.”
Mr. Turner said that he was impressed with Mr. Ford, particularly with what he saw when he travelled to Sudbury to meet the then leadership contender. “He draws a significant and great crowd,” he said. “His stance is to respect the taxpayer and right now the taxpayers in Algoma-Manitoulin are feeling anything but respected.”
Mr. Turner noted that Mr. Ford had carried both the Algoma-Manitoulin and Sudbury ridings. “Doug Ford has tripled our membership numbers from a few months ago,” he said. “I haven’t seen those levels of membership before.”
In fact, a record number of voters cast ballots in this leadership contest, a whopping 60,000 or more registering to confirm their votes. “That’s historic for any party in this province,” he said.
Mr. Ford brought out a crowd of more than 300 to the Sudbury rally when he visited last month. “I haven’t seen that at a political rally since some time in the 1970s or ‘80s,” said Mr. Turner. “It was people from all walks of life.”
“This was the shortest leadership campaign in Canadian history. That said, the members of the Ontario PC Party have spoken and Doug Ford was elected to unite the party,” said local PC party member Mark Volpini of Little Current. “It is now time to turn our focus onto Kathleen Wynne. Her government is tired, burned out and out of touch. We are excited to have Doug Ford leading the charge into the June 7 election and bringing prosperity and pride back to the Province of Ontario.”
Longtime Gore Bay Tory stalwart Joyce Foster was also upbeat on the result. “It was a toss up between the two of them (Mr. Ford and Ms. Elliott),” she said. “I think he is going to do a great job. He did a great job on Toronto council and is a strong leader. We need to get rid of the Liberal government and its high taxes and high hydro rates. He is quite popular around Toronto as well. It’s a win-win situation.”
In a surprise development during the ballot count, newcomer Caroline Mulroney was the first to be dropped from the ballot. This was a clear indication as to where things were headed, most pundits believed she would come in ahead of 37-year-old social conservative candidate Tanya Granic Allen, who campaigned on rewriting the province’s sex education curriculum and other social conservative planks.
Both Ms. Elliott (62), a longtime political actor, former MPP and wife of the late Canadian Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Ms. Mulroney (43), a lawyer and businesswoman, and the daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney were viewed as closer to the progressive side of the conservative divide, while Mr. Ford (53), brother of the controversial (and populist) Toronto mayor Rob Ford, made a late campaign move to secure the social conservative ranks by re-opening the abortion debate.
There were a number of complaints issued by party members that the did not receive their voting papers in time to participate and, in an odd quirk, a court challenge seeking to delay the election by a week was supported by all the candidates except Ms. Elliott. A judge dismissed that request.
In the end, Ms. Elliott dropped her challenge and excepted the results.
Current polls suggest that despite the turmoil of the leadership contest, the Tories are still favoured to win the June 7 provincial election.
