Ex-PM Mulroney on the stump for daughter’s PC leadership bid
While consistently dismissing critics who accuse her of cashing in on her family name, Caroline Mulroney has recruited her famous father to shore up support as she fights to seize the reins of Ontario’s Opposition. Former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney denied Monday that he was brought in to add clout to his daughter’s campaign as she falls behind in the polls with only days to go before the Progressive Conservatives choose a new leader.
The former politician said he has been stumping for his daughter for weeks at fundraisers and other events, and said her bid for the leadership has been gaining momentum.
“I’m here because I’m her father, that’s all,” he told reporters after a lunchtime event in Ajax, Ont., east of Toronto — one of three such events he is scheduled to speak at this week while his daughter campaigns in other parts of the province.
He pushed back against suggestions that Caroline Mulroney, a Toronto lawyer and businesswoman, isn’t qualified for the job, saying he was also criticized as too green during his campaign to lead the federal party in 1983. “That’s goofy stuff. I had no political experience and look what happened: I won the two largest back-to-back majorities since Sir John A. Macdonald,” he said. Polls had him lagging in third place days before he won the leadership, he said. “I won that and I feel the same way about Caroline.” Former Tory legislator Christine Elliott, former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford and parental rights activist Tanya Granic Allen are also vying to replace former PC leader Patrick Brown, who resigned in late January amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Brown has denied the allegations and briefly campaigned to reclaim his job before dropping out. While Mulroney appears to be bringing out the big guns in the last stretch of the campaign, having her father in the spotlight could send mixed messages, said Genevieve Tellier, a political science expert at the University of Ottawa. Mulroney has so far positioned herself as a fresh face outside of the political establishment and having her father there instead reinforces her connection to the old guard, Tellier said. It could also undermine her efforts to establish herself as a leader in her own right, he added.
While the 43-year-old mother of four has faced the most scrutiny over her high-profile family connections, two of her rivals also have ties to well-known politicians. Elliott’s late husband Jim Flaherty was federal minister of finance under former prime minister Stephen Harper. Ford’s late brother, Rob Ford, was the mayor of Toronto until 2014.