Elliott warns Conservatives not to gamble on rookie leader
Former MPP praises Mulroney but says ‘we need someone who’s ready to go now, and that’s me’
Reminding Conservatives of the perils of choosing an untested rookie leader, Christine Elliott says she is battle-hardened and ready to govern.
Elliott, a former Progressive Conservative MPP who finished second to scandal-plagued ex-leader Patrick Brown in 2015, said that last leadership race proved to be a cautionary tale.
“I think that demonstrates how important experience is and, to me, I learned a lot from that contest, which I’m applying in this leadership contest,” she said in an interview Monday.
While rival Caroline Mulroney, 43, running for the first time in York-Simcoe, is making a splash, Elliott cautioned Tories against gambling on an unknown commodity in the March 10 leadership.
“Caroline has a great future, but I think that what we need is someone who’s ready to go now and that’s me,” said the nine-year MPP, noting the looming June 7 provincial election against Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals.
“I do have the experience and within a few months of an election that’s really important,” she said.
“Having to win your seat (for the first time) then having to win the province within a few months is not an easy thing to do — and that’s where I think the experience counts.”
Her other PC opponent is former Toronto mayoral runner-up Doug Ford, 53, a family friend who backed her leadership in 2015.
Elliott, 62, retired as Whitby-Oshawa MPP after losing to Brown two and a half years ago. She was then appointed by Wynne as Ontario’s first patient ombudsman.
Some Mulroney backers have accused her of accepting a Liberal patronage plum — a charge Elliott vehemently denied.
“When I left (Queen’s Park) I did not have a job and several months later I was asked if I wanted to apply for this job, which I did, and was interviewed for it and got the job,” she said of the $220,000-a-year post she quit last week.
“It was a great job because it really gave me a significant background in health care. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
Asked if she feels any sense of vindication that Brown — a little-known federal MP when he won the Tory crown — did not pan out as leader, Elliott shook her head.
“No, I don’t look at it like that, because I think it’s very sad for the party that we’re going through this right now so close to an election,” she said.
Although she has yet to decide where she will run in the upcoming Ontario vote, she is confident she can do well when PC members cast their preferential ballots next month.
Elliott “absolutely” feels she can also be a second choice vote for both Mulroney and Ford supporters in the contest.
“To the members that have been around a long time, I’m a known quantity to them.”
Indeed, she ran in the 2009 leadership won by Tim Hudak, finishing third, and her late husband, Jim Flaherty, was runner-up in the 2002 and 2004 PC contests.
Although some of her loyalists maintain Brown’s campaign won in 2015 due to questionable memberships, she is not worried about a reprise of that in March.
“All I know is that Patrick won. I accepted the victory and it was time for me to go and let him have his space as leader.”
But she praised interim PC leader Vic Fedeli for rooting out fraudulent memberships. Fedeli said Saturday the party appears to have 127,743 members — not the 200,224 Brown claimed last month.
“Vic and the members of caucus that are working with him are working hard to make sure that the lists have names on of members who should be there,” said Elliott.
“They’re trying to establish a really secure process for voting. So I have confidence in what they’re doing,” she said.
Interestingly, while Elliott and Brown have an acrimonious relationship — they never again spoke after he defeated her on May 9, 2015 — she wouldn’t necessarily boot him from the PC caucus for his alleged actions.
“I think that Patrick deserves the opportunity to deal with the allegations that have been raised against him,” she said.
“Maybe that’s my background as a lawyer. He deserves his opportunity to have his say.” Two women told CTV News he made sexual advances on them when they were teenagers — and under the influence of alcohol — while he was a teetotalling Conservative MP.
Brown has denied the allegations, which have not been proven in court.
“And he should be able to clear his name — there’s not very much time for that — I would see no reason why he wouldn’t be able to run.”