Former MPP Christine Elliott and Caroline Mulroney are joining the Progressive Conservative leadership race in the wake of Patrick Brown’s dramatic demise.Elliott tweeted “I’m in!” on Thursday afternoon after she spent days of reaching out to Tory MPPs and supporters.A Mulroney campaign official said the former prime minister’s daughter, who is running for the June 7 election in York-Simcoe, would formally launch her bid “within days,” likely Monday.“We think she’s the only one who can beat Kathleen Wynne,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss strategy.Elliott’s item marks a return to the political scene she left in 2015 after a bitter loss to Brown in the party’s last leadership contest.She subsequently became Ontario’s patient ombudsman, a $220,000-a-year job created by Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government to keep closer tabs on the outcomes of the healthcare system.Mulroney’s camp tried to paint Elliott as a throwback when the party needs to look forward.“With all due respect to Christine, she’s done this twice and retired and taken a Liberal patronage appointment,” said the Mulroney insider, referring to Elliott’s unsuccessful leadership bids in 2009 and 2015 and her current role as Ontario’s patient ombudsman.“It’s time for an outsider, and Doug Ford can’t beat Kathleen Wynne in a general election.”Ford, the bombastic former city councillor and brother of the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford, announced he will run earlier this week.He will hold a campaign kick-off rally Saturday night at the Toronto Congress Centre.“You’ll hear a little bit more about our platform then,” said Ford, who has not been nominated to run in a riding in the June 7 vote, in a radio interview Thursday.Former Postmedia and Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. chairman Rod Phillips said he i ...
|
