Paikin to host first Ontario Tory leaders’ debate
Veteran political moderator Steve Paikin will officiate the first Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership debate on the Feb. 15 edition of TV Ontario’s The Agenda, the party announced Wednesday. Pre- taped earlier in the day, it will air at 8 p. m., 11 p. m. and 5 a. m. the next morning, as well as on multiple online platforms.
Just three weeks after Patrick Brown’s calamitous departure under allegations of sexual assault and coercion from two unidentified women, Christine Elliott, Doug Ford and Caroline Mulroney will begin in earnest their quests to take the helm of the party ahead of the June 7 election.
“I will continue to ensure our party is in a strong position for the incoming leader,” interim leader Vic Fedeli pledged in a statement.
“I look forward to continuing towards our shared goal of defeating Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals and bringing the change Ontario families need.”
The Tori es also announced details of the voting process on Wednesday, after two weeks of widespread allegations of fraud and other irregularities on the party’ s member list. ( There are at least 67,000 fewer real members than the 200,000 Brown often boasted about, the party recently announced.)
Each member will receive a letter with a unique verification number they will use to log in to a website, administered by an independent vendor, where they will confirm or change their voter information.
To receive an electronic ballot, they will need to scan and upload acceptable identification.
Voting will be open from March 2- 8, with t he results announced March 10. All the results will be easily auditable, party officials stress. They say it’s no diff erent in principle f rom previous contests where members had to present ID in person.
“This election will be the most inclusive and open in the history of the Ontario PC Party,” Hartley Lefton, chair of the party’s Leadership Election Organization Committee and party president Jag Badwal promised in a joint statement.
Paikin, moderator of the first debate, is vigorously disputing allegations from publisher and former Toronto mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson that he offered to book her on The Agenda if she had sex with him. TVO has commissioned an outside investigation, but has kept Paikin on in the meantime.
“Sarah, you and I both know the incident you described never happened,” Paikin wrote on Facebook this week. “It’s complete fiction.”