Doug Ford fires up PC party supporters at `unity rally´
(The Star Food)

Newly minted PC boss Doug Ford took a big swipe at Premier Kathleen Wynne’s throne speech during a Monday night rally designed to make up for the lack of a splashy victory celebration after a chaotic Tory leadership announcement just over a week ago.The former city councillor and brother of late Toronto mayor Rob Ford accused the Liberals of doing “anything to stay in power� with the June 7 provincial election fast approaching.“Today Kathleen Wynne wrote a lot of cheques on the taxpayers’ back,� a feisty Ford told hundreds of supporters at the Toronto Congress Centre near Pearson airport.Read more:Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: Will Doug Ford’s populist push bury progressive policies?Wynne’s throne speech promises new spending on health care, home care and child care in OntarioOpinion | Unfiltered Ford is the best chance for a PC victory in Ontario“All those cheques are going to end up bouncing.�At every mention of Wynne’s name, the diverse band of Progressive Conservatives jeered and booed, prompting a grinning Ford to veer from the prepared text he was reading during an eight-minute speech. “We’ve got a lively crowd tonight,� he said.Ford took the stage to the Rocky song “Eye of the Tiger� and joined hands with the three women he defeated in the brief leadership race to replace Patrick Brown, who resigned in the wake of a CTV News report on sexual misconduct allegations from two young women. Brown denies the allegations. Ford, second-place finisher Christine Elliott — who initially refused to concede her loss of the job she had failed to win twice before — Caroline Mulroney and Tanya Granic Allen all raised their arms in the air, smiling.But none of the women spoke, and Ford was not joined by the party’s caucus of more than two dozen MPPs on the stage at what was dubbed a “unity rally.�Instead, Ford was introduced by new campaign chairman ...