Christine Elliott

Tuesday March 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 13, 2018

Christine Elliott concedes to Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford

Christine Elliott is conceding defeat to Doug Ford, congratulating the new Ontario Progressive Conservative leader and promising to run for the party in the June provincial election.

Her move brings to an end the extended drama of the party’s tumultuous leadership race, triggered six weeks ago by the sudden resignation of Patrick Brown amid allegations of sexual misconduct.  

Elliott initially disputed the results announced late Saturday, alleging “serious irregularities” in the voting. The party declared Ford the winner by a margin of just one percentage point.

But in a statement issued Sunday night, Elliott struck a conciliatory tone.

“Our team took the last twenty-four hours to review the results of an election that was incredibly close,” she said in the statement. “After completing my review, I am confident in the results. I extend my congratulations to Doug Ford on a hard-fought campaign.”

As CBC News reported first, Elliott initiated a meeting with Ford on Sunday afternoon. The pair met for “several hours,” according to a senior official on the Elliott campaign.

While the official said the campaign team believes they have a good case to dispute the result, the only recourse would be to go to court, and that is not something Elliott or her team want to do with the party facing an election on June 7.  

“Christine is choosing not to challenge this,” said the official. “Christine and the team were unanimous that this was the right way forward. The name of the game is unifying the party.”

“Ontario needs a Progressive Conservative government to finally defeat Kathleen Wynne,” Elliott said in her statement. “I look forward to running as a candidate.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

Thursday March 8, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 8, 2018

Doug Ford raises abortion issue in effort to woo social conservatives: expert

March 2, 2018

One of the four candidates competing to lead Ontario’s Opposition raised questions about access to abortion this week, resurrecting a political hot potato while stopping short of promising to reopen debate on the issue.

Doug Ford’s statements that he would not personally revive the abortion debate but would allow those in his caucus to bring forward legislation on any matter important to them appears to be a “Hail Mary” move aimed at wooing the party’s socially conservative members as the leadership race comes to a close this weekend, a political analyst said.

February 21, 2018

“This is a top-down leader and for him, on this issue, to be signalling that, hey, it’s ok by him for any of his caucus members to be where they want to be on the map on this one tells me that this is a retail politics vote-getting move, pure and simple,” said Myer Siemiatycki, a professor of politics at Toronto’s Ryerson University.

“If he really believed it, he would say this is what he’s going to deliver, and the fact that he’s not prepared to say that says to me it’s about appealing to a base and portion of the (Progressive) Conservative party that nobody else has, on this issue, spoken to.”

February 1, 2018

In interviews with various media outlets this week, Ford suggested that as party leader he would welcome having members of his caucus table legislation that would require parental permission for abortions sought by minors.

He clarified his position Tuesday, saying that while he personally believes in “the sanctity of life,” he would follow in the footsteps of the federal Conservatives by not rekindling debate on the issue.

“That being said, I will allow MPPs to draft, bring forward, and debate any legislation that is important to them,” Ford said in a statement.

“The Liberals have set a dangerous and narrow-minded precedent both federally and provincially. I will never put members of my party in a position where they will have to compromise or deny their personal beliefs. I will never muzzle members of our caucus.”

While the right for patients to give or refuse consent is laid out in law, there are currently no provisions regarding parental notification, according to Ontario’s medical regulator. (Source: CTV News) 

 

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Friday March 2, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 2, 2018

Ontario PC Leadership Debate Adds To The Political Drama

February 28, 2018

The race to lead the Ontario Progressive Conservatives might be the most captivating political drama in Canada right now.

The race took another turn this week when Patrick Brown — who sparked the contest by resigning as PC leader last month amid sexual misconduct allegations — abandoned his controversial bid to reclaim his job.

February 15, 2018

Some of the remaining contenders have deep political connections that make for an interesting contest, even for those outside of Canada’s largest province.

Former Toronto councillor Doug Ford is the older brother of late mayor Rob Ford; lawyer Caroline Mulroney is the daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney; and former MPP Christine Elliott is the widow of late federal finance minister Jim Flaherty.

Anti-sex-ed activist Tanya Granic Allen has also joined the race as a champion of the social conservative wing of a party that was moved more to the centre under Brown’s leadership.  

February 21, 2018

With voting to begin Friday, PC members are hoping to drill down on policy and priorities of the candidates who seek to lead the party into a June election. More than 1,000 questions have already been submitted by party members for debate consideration, said Raj.

Though Brown has bowed out, questions about his management of the party and the divisions that have surfaced over a tumultuous few weeks remain.(Source: Huffington Post) 

 

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Wednesday February 21, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 21, 2018

Patrick Brown’s PC leadership bid could lead to ‘political fratricide,’ experts say

January 26, 2018

Patrick Brown’s entry into the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race could lead to ruthless infighting, leaving the party at a disadvantage, experts say.

“This is a time when the party should be taking all its resources and throwing them at Kathleen Wynne,” Jim Warren, a political strategist who has worked with the Ontario Liberals, said this week.

“Instead, they’ve got the guns pointed at each other and are about to have a ‘shootout at the OK Corral.’ You will see this real insider fighting — political fratricide, if you will — of the leaders turning on each other.”  

January 30, 2018

Brown entered the race on Friday, just weeks after he resigned in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct made by two women and first reported by CTV.

The other four leadership candidates, preparing for opponents with roughly similar political advantages, will now have to revise their game plan to focus on Brown. The former leader already has a base of support and extensive political experience.

“He’s been the leader for the last two years. He has sold a lot of the memberships to the members now. Are they PC members or Patrick Brown members?” Warren said.

Patrick Brown Retrospective

Either way, Brown’s entry into the leadership race is a gift to the Ontario Liberals, according to Jaime Watt, executive chair of the public relations company Navigator and a long-time Conservative strategist.

“I think it harms all the candidates at an important time in Ontario’s history,” Watt said.

“If I were (Kathleen Wynne) I’d be running to the convenience store to buy a lottery ticket.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Thursday February 15, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 15, 2018

Sex-ed and other social-conservative hot buttons starting to light up Ontario Tory leadership race

For more than two years, the Ontario Tories have managed to skirt around the kind of social-conservative flashpoints that have brought them little but grief in the past. But as the party’s leadership race picks up momentum — and a surprise, potential fourth candidate — that unofficial moratorium appears to be ending.

Two of the three most prominent contenders say they will at least revisit the controversial new sex-education curriculum introduced by the Liberal government, with one charging Monday it is riddled with “Liberal ideology,” the other promising she would allow free votes on questions of conscience. And the newest would-be entrant — Tanya Granic Allen, head of a parents group that opposed the sex-ed revamp — is pledging to make sex-ed and similar issues her prime focus.

Pro-life groups are suddenly energized, and hope the candidates will also debate the Liberal law passed last fall that created “bubble zones” around abortion clinics, rendering pro-life protests illegal within 50 metres.

“We have been crying for three years, unwanted in our party, but now are back in the fold,” said Charles McVety, Ontario’s most prominent evangelical Christian activist.

Allen said she will use her candidacy to “force” those issues to the fore — so long as she raises the $100,000 needed to officially run.

“There are a lot of grass-roots conservatives who feel disenfranchised, who feel shut out of this party,” she said in an interview Friday. “I’m here to be their voice.”

The more mainstream candidates are undoubtedly eager to corral some of those Tories, too. Rreaching out to social conservatives may well be a “shrewd” short-term strategy, says pollster Greg Lyle, head of the Innovative Research Group. (Continued: National Post) 

 

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