Our province deserves better

Ontario deserves better. Ontario is the heartland of one of the world’s richest and most stable democracies. Canada is the envy of much of the world’s population, and our society thrives as a mosaic of people who have immigrated here over the 148 years of our history as a nation.

Our much-envied parliamentary system depends on the presence of a strong and effective opposition to keep it balanced and to keep government responsible to the people. The only way an opposition party can truly hold government accountable, is if it can win elections and threaten the government’s seats. In Ontario, this has not been the case over the past four elections. Ontario deserves better.

Ontario deserves a government that listens to the people of our province, from every walk of life, from every corner and community, and that shares their priorities. The Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne fails utterly to do this. Ontario deserves better.

Ontario deserves a bold new Progressive Conservative party to champion the priorities of the people and to hold the government to account until the next election. To do that, the PC party must be able to win that election. Then, it must do so — and form a government that champions the priorities of Ontarians.

I understand many people want to discuss policy. My opponent Christine Elliott likes to talk about how she would govern the province as premier. Yet the fact remains, no leader of the PC party will be premier if we can’t win the election. And, to win the election, we must fundamentally reset our party. This must be the next leader’s priority. This is my priority.

Over the past 12 years, the PC party has been allowed to stagnate and collapse from a high of 100,000 members when the party last formed government to a 50-year low of less than 10,000 members when this leadership campaign was launched.

During that time, the party lost four elections under three different leaders. In each case, it was the same old backroom crew calling the shots and thinking up policies and platforms they thought would sell to Ontarians. They didn’t and they failed. We can’t afford to keep empowering the same old, same old crew.

We must grow the PC party to at least 100,000 members — and sustain it there between campaigns. That’s enough to have a member on every block, in every community, from every walk of life and in every corner of the province. When this leadership campaign began last year, the PC Party didn’t represent a true picture of Ontario: 84 per cent of members were over age 50; 55 per cent were over retirement age — 65.

Our party must be diverse enough to include people from all ages 14 and up. We must include every cultural group and local community. That way, our members will reflect the interests and pri-

A party can only be an effective opposition if it has a credible chance at winning an election. We’ve lost the last four — for a reason

orities of their friends and neighbours across the province; they will reconnect our party with Ontario.

On Nov. 24 of last year, I set a target of 100,000 party members within four years. Only three months later, we are already at 76,000 — over 40,410 of which were recruited by my amazing team. We can do this.

That’s the first step. We must also offer people policies they can support. The PC party lost four elections because it proposed policies the people of Ontario didn’t want. Again, that’s because the same old crew running the Party were out of touch with modern Ontario — and with the membership of our party. We can’t afford that