ONTARIO PC LEADERSHIP RACE
Elliott reaches out to local voters
Christine Elliott, one KINGSVILLE of the four remaining candidates to lead the embattled Ontario Progressive Conservative party into the June 7 election, made a stop in Essex County Thursday night and touted herself as the only candidate with experience at Queen’s Park.
About 150 people showed up at Colasanti’s Tropical Garden on a snowy, windy night to hear the woman who finished second behind former party leader Patrick Brown in the 2015 leadership campaign.
“We know that we need to elect a Progressive Conservative majority government on June 7,” Elliott told the crowd to loud cheers. “And it’s not just because as Progressive Conservatives we want to win, it’s because Ontario needs us to win.”
Elliott is running for the leadership vacated by Brown in January after allegations arose of inappropriate sexual conduct.
Also in the race are Caroline Mulroney, daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, Doug Ford, a former Toronto mayoralty candidate and city councillor and brother of the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford, and Tanya Granic Allen, a social conservative activist.
The widow of the late provincial and federal finance minister Jim Flaherty, Elliott noted that she is the only candidate who understands Queen’s Park, having served as an MPP for Whitby-Oshawa, east of Toronto, for nine years. “We cannot afford another four years of the Wynne Liberals,” said Elliott.
“They are taxing us to high heaven, we’ve got hydro rates that are going through the roof, our economy, which was once the envy of Canada, is faltering, many business owners are feeling under attack from this government.” Elliott said she hears from business owners across the province who are fed up.
“They think that this government actually wants them to close up shop and go somewhere else,” she said. “And there are very few good-paying jobs for young people who are graduating from our colleges and universities with a mountain of student debt and no job to go to. So something needs to change, we need to make sure that we win June 7.”
Elliott noted that there are fewer than 100 days until the election and she is the only candidate with the experience to hit the ground running. Results of the PC leadership contest will be announced on March 10.
Chris Lewis, a retired firefighter and businessman from Kingsville who is the only declared candidate for the yet-to-be-finalized Essex PC nomination, attended the event and said Essex, which hasn’t elected a Conservative MPP since 1963, is ready for change. “People are sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Lewis, who has not come out in favour of any of the leadership candidates. “My phone is ringing off the hook with people who are just fed up. I believe that Essex is going to finally turn to the Progressive Conservatives.”
Elliot said she is very much against a carbon tax, something that Brown had as a major plank in his platform. But she said she would retain many of the policies Brown was advancing, such as increased funding for mental health.
Elliott will be in Windsor Friday morning for a breakfast event at the Lumberjack restaurant.