Ready for a fight
Ford named new Ontario Progressive Conservative party leader
A heated battle for the reins of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives that exposed deep rifts within the party continued to smolder even after Doug Ford was crowned the new leader on Saturday.
Party president Jag Badwal announced the results seven hours later than scheduled, saying the former Toronto city councillor had narrowly eked out a win over former provincial legislator Christine Elliott on the third ballot.
But Elliott, who had made her third bid to lead the party, released a statement early Sunday morning alleging there had been “serious irregularities” in the vote and vowing to investigate further.
Her comments came after the party said it had reviewed certain aspects of the vote and cleared all issues before announcing Ford’s victory.
Ford made little mention of the review or the delays in his victory speech, focusing instead on the June election in which he will now face Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne.
“The people of Ontario want the Ontario Liberals gone and they deserve nothing less,” Ford, who was flanked by Granic Allen, told the sparse but enthusiastic crowd in Markham, Ont., that remained to hear the results. “We’re going to spend the coming weeks getting the party in fighting shape, because the people of this province are ready for change.”
Ford said he hadn’t spoken to Elliott and vowed to hold a news conference “in the coming days” but gave no specifics.
Elliott said she had won the popular vote and the majority of ridings and noted that few electoral points separated her and Ford in the final count. She also said thousands of party members were assigned to incorrect ridings during the voting process.
“I will stand up for these members and plan to investigate the extent of this discrepancy,” she said.
Toronto lawyer Caroline Mulroney placed third in the race while social conservative advocate Tanya Granic Allen finished last.
The governing Liberals were quick to denounce Ford, who is known for being the brother of late scandal-plagued mayor Rob Ford.
“The Conservative party is going into this election with more radically conservative policies than Mike Harris, Tim Hudak or Stephen Harper ever ran on,” Liberal campaign co-chair Deb Matthews said. “The billions in cuts they are promising and the divisive social conservative policies they are championing will hurt Ontario’s economy and change our province for the worse.”
Doug Ford’s victory was announced after 10 p.m., without any of the pomp and fanfare that was expected earlier in the day when hundreds packed a hall expecting to celebrate the start of a new and more positive chapter in party history.
Instead, after a four-and-ahalf-hour delay, the chair of the party’s leadership election organizing committee dismissed the irate crowd Saturday evening with a terse statement about the need for a review of the results and announced the issue would be resolved in the “short term.”
“There’s a review underway of an allocation of a certain list of electors that needs to be resolved because it may have an impact on electoral votes,” Hartley Lefton said, his words increasingly drowned out by jeers and boos.
Lefton dismissed assembled party members from the hall they’d occupied since late Saturday morning, saying the organization no longer had access to the premises.
William Coleman, a staunch Ford supporter, said he was angry at the party’s handling of what should have been a turning point and worried the delays and confusion over who won could affect the party’s image at a time when it is striving to appear united and authoritative.
“If we’re going to win the general election ... stuff like this only makes things worse,” he said.