Candidates woo Tories in Ottawa
Three leadership hopefuls attend Manning conference in mad dash toward vote
OTTAWA— They don’t call it a net- working conference for nothing.
All three declared Ontario PC leadership candidates are showcasing their chops at an annual conservative talkfest in Ottawa in the mad dash towards the vote that takes place in less than a month.
For Caroline Mulroney, Doug Ford and Christine Elliott, each of whom will take centre stage at the Manning Networking Conference over two days, it’s a chance to woo a group of key influencers, pollsters, data analysts, strategists, pundits and, in many cases, keen young Tories willing to work for the candidate who captures their attention.
On that count, Caroline Mulroney, the first onstage, appeared Friday as a poised young woman with a conservative pedigree, but, in the eyes of many who watched, also as an inexperienced candidate.
She admitted her entry into the leadership race came about “very, very quickly,” after Patrick Brown’s fall from grace. She said it was fuelled by media speculation that she’d be a strong leadership contender, which she said forced her to move more quickly than she’d anticipated, to reach for the top job.
But Mulroney made clear she had harboured leadership ambitions when she decided to run for office in the first place.
“When we made the decision to get into politics, I made the halfway decision, at that point, that to get to leader, I needed to get involved, I needed to make a difference, and I was tired of living in Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario,” she said.
As about 200 people listened, Mulroney was skilled at telling her personal story, but less adept on her feet, when it came to policy questions about her newfound opposition to a carbon tax, and where she would find billions in foregone revenue or waste, to cut in order to pay for the party’s platform.
Mulroney brushed off those questions with what several listeners later said sounded like superficial answers.
One senior federal conservative said he was reminded of Belinda Stronach’s initial foray into politics; another groaned at Mulroney’s decision to follow Ford and Elliott’s lead and ditch the PC party’s platform plank supporting a price on carbon, calling it a clear bid for first- or second-choice support in a preferential vote.
But, for those who support her, such as King-Vaughan candidate Stephen Lecce, Mulroney represents generational change, and is someone with business and volunteer experience who can bring voters to the party.
“There are a lot of Ontarians here. There’s a lot of conservative thoughtleaders, and it’s important for the candidates to share their value-proposition with the membership,” Lecce said.
Mulroney won the nomination for York-Simcoe seven months ago.
She said much of the advice about entering politics, and entering the leadership race, came not from her famous father, former prime minister Brian Mulroney, but from her mother Mila, who met her husband when she was already a Progressive Conservative party volunteer. As another mother of four, her daughter said Mila Mulroney knew the struggles she would face in politics.
“I spent a lot of time talking to her about the challenges and how I would do that. She was the person I spoke the most to about it,” Mulroney said.
Mulroney painted herself as a fiscal conservative who wants to reduce taxes, make life “more affordable” for Ontarians struggling to pay hydro bills, and who believes that government should create “the conditions for people who want to lift themselves up and make their own choices . . . for their families and their businesses.”
She pitched herself as a leader who welcomes the social conservatives who chafed under Brown’s shifts on sex education in his bid to broaden the party’s support.
But when it came to describing where she’d find “billions,” in foregone tax revenue or waste, to pay for the other promises in the party platform, Mulroney offered only generalities.
She said she would look to the recent auditor-general’s report which found $1billion in wasteful spending, and was “confident” she could come up with a platform that included both strong environmental policies that would not create a greater tax burden on citizens.
Mulroney said she would likely retain platform planks on “getting hydro rates down” and on making investments in mental health.
Ford and Elliott are set to speak to the Manning conference on Saturday. Ford spent part of Friday working the halls and taking selfies with young conservatives who sought him out. Elliott is set to arrive Saturday.
The results of the leadership are to be announced March 10, after a week of voting that ends March 8.