PC leadership hopeful Granic Allen meets with voters
Tanya Granic Allen brought her message of lower taxes, relief from high energy costs and the need for parent-controlled sex education to about 90 local residents eager to meet the Ontario PC leadership candidate on Tuesday.
The meet and greet, held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 594 on Howard Avenue in Tecumseh, attracted a boisterous crowd and included one family with several young children in tow. “People know me as the woman who wants to repeal the sex-ed curriculum,” Granic Allen said. “Also I’m very clearly against the carbon tax and one big issue for me is I’m going to rip out those wind turbines.”
“I’m going to put companies on notice that there will be no more raping and pillaging the taxpayer in Ontario and those windmills will come out of the ground.” When asked about the 300 or so jobs in Windsor that depend on wind turbine production, she said, “I’m all for creating jobs here, however, what we have going on here is the corporations are getting fat off the taxpayers.” Granic Allen, a pro-life and social conservative activist, is one of four candidates vying for the top leadership position with the Ontario Progressive Conservative party — a position left vacant by former party leader Patrick 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 Christine Elliott who served as an MPP for Whitby- Oshawa, east of Toronto, for nine years. Supporter Bob Verkoeyen said he attended the event because “Ontario needs a major difference in our political landscape.” The Essex resident, who works as a church pastor, said he likes many things about Granic Allen’s platform including her support for parental input in education, her approach to dealing with corruption and her stand on wind turbines.
“I think she has an excellent message ... back to the grassroots, back to the people,” Verkoeyen said. “She has a very good feel of, I think, the pulse of where the people are at.”
Granic Allen serves as president of Parents as First Educators, an organization that calls itself a leader in the fight against the implementation of radical sex-ed curriculum in Ontario and a leading voice for the defence of parental rights in Canada.
“I’ve been hearing from a lot of parents in the province in the last few years, it’s simply too much too soon,” she said. “The curriculum sexualizes children.”
The PC leadership results will be announced on Saturday. The provincial election takes place June 7.