CAROLINE MULRONEY MAKES HER JUMP INTO ONTARIO POLITICS
With the son of one former prime minister already holding the highest political office in the country, the daughter of another is making her entrance into politics.
Caroline Mulroney, who spent a decade of her childhood at 24 Sussex Drive, announced Wednesday she’s seeking the Ontario Progressive Conservative nomination in the Toronto-area riding of York-Simcoe. The 43- year- old daughter of Brian Mulroney, Canada’s prime minister from 1984 to 1993, would be a star candidate for the Ontario PCs as the party aims to end a decade and a half of Liberal rule. Not only raised by a political family, she boasts a lengthy resume as a lawyer, an investment adviser and a philanthropist.
The PCs have been leading provincial polls since Patrick Brown was elected leader in 2015, though Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals have narrowed the gap recently.
“As a working mother of four, I know we need change,” the 43- year- old Mulroney said in a video announcing her candidacy. “Government needs to get out of the way, focus more on affordability, manage taxes properly so we get the services we expect.”
Mulroney has been making herself more visible in party politics recently, including a stint co-hosting the federal Conservative leadership convention in May. Last fall, she introduced Brown at a fundraising dinner.
“I have great confidence in Patrick Brown,” Mulroney told Postmedia’s Bradford Times Wednesday. “He understands what people here want and care about.”
Mulroney, who is married to Andrew Lapham, has a home in Georgina, which is in the riding. She said she’s getting a sense of what local voters are looking for in the election set for June 2018.
“From all the people I’ve spoken with, the people of York- Simcoe want change. People tell me that what matters to them is the rising cost of living — the cost of housing, hydro rates, taxes ... the affordability.”
The Ontario PCs have already received advice on winning the next election from her father, who dropped by t he Ontario legislature in April 2016 at Brown’s request.
Brown has previously said he first decided he was a Conservative when, during grade school, he wrote a letter to then- Prime Minister Mulroney about acid rain and got a response back.
“I told my parents, ‘I think I agree with the Conservative party,’” he said in a 2015 Toronto Life interview.
With Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, sitting as Prime Minister, Caroline’s jump into politics starts another potential dynasty. Her brother Mark, head of equity capital markets at the National Bank of Canada, had also been talked about as a potential leadership candidate to replace Stephen Harper, but he stayed out of the race. Her other brother Ben co-hosts a national morning program on CTV.
Caroline studied at Harvard College, has a law degree from New York University, and has experience at investment firms and philanthropic organizations. She is a vice- president at BloombergSen, a Toronto investment counselling firm, a member of the board for the Sickkids Foundation, a Governor of the National Theatre School of Canada, and co- founder and chair of the Shoebox Project for Shelters charity, which collects gifts for women and girls in shelters or facing homelessness.
If she wins the nomination, she’ll be running in a riding vacated by veteran PC MPP Julia Munro, who is retiring. York-Simcoe, just north of Toronto, has been easily won by Munro in each election since the riding was created in 2007, and Munro has held a seat in the legislature since 1995.
Mulroney has received endorsements from Munro and from Conservative MP Peter Van Loan, who holds the federal seat for the riding.
T he party has been plagued by controversies over nominations recently, with numerous candidates alleging party brass has been interfering to get its preferred choice and doesn’t take appeals seriously. The volunteer leadership in three riding associations have resigned in protests, and other candidates are appealing the nomination process in court.
The nomination meeting for York- Simcoe is Sept. 10. Peter Seemann, the riding association nomination chair, said Mulroney is the only candidate to have formally declared, but others have expressed interest.
The Ontario Liberals and NDP have not yet nominated a candidate for the riding.