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Former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown’s
abrupt resignation in response to
allegations of sexual misconduct has left the PCs with less than four months to find a new leader before the campaign kicks off for the June 7 provincial election.
The party has no shortage of contenders, but it will be forced to make some quick decisions. On Thursday evening, the PCs will select an interim leader, which means the caucus will be selecting from its own ranks. That has the benefit of allowing for a quick decision as the election looms, but it may not be the person the party wants taking on the Liberals in the election.
After the interim leader is chosen, the party could rush ahead with a convention and allow the membership to vote for a new, permanent leader. This would allow for more candidates, but would leave members with little time to make an important decision.
Here are the top contenders from the party’s caucus and from outside it.
Caucus contenders
Vic Fedeli
The former two-term mayor of North Bay has been an MPP since 2011 and has served as energy critic and finance critic for the PCs. Fedeli ran in the party’s 2015 leadership race, withdrawing three months before the convention to endorse Christine Elliott, who went on to lose to Brown.
Steve Clark
The MPP for Leeds—Grenville has represented the area since 2010 and is currently one of the deputy leaders of the PC Party, along with Sylvia Jones, the MPP for Dufferin-Caledon. Clark is also the critic for ethics and accountability. Clark was the mayor of Brockville for three terms, and has the distinction of being the youngest mayor in Canada at the time.
Lisa MacLeod
MacLeod has represented the Nepean—Carleton riding in Ottawa since 2006. She succeeded John Baird, who went on to be elected as a member of parliament. MacLeod is currently the party’s treasury board critic. She ran for the PC leadership in 2015 and, like Fedeli, withdrew to endorse Elliott.
Out-of-caucus contenders
Caroline Mulroney
The daughter of Canada’s 18th Prime Minister was
acclaimed as the PC candidate for York—Simcoe in September and was widely seen as injecting some star power in the run-up to the 2018 provincial election. She worked as a lawyer and hedge fund manager before entering politics. Mulroney has already drawn a Twitter endorsement from Alberta Conservative MP Michelle Rempel.
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Christine Elliott
Elliott was an MPP from 2006 to 2015 and
lost to Brown in the recent PC leadership vote by about 20 per cent. Despite the loss, Elliott had strong caucus support, collecting endorsements from nearly two-thirds of her colleagues in the race. In her nearly 10 years in Ontario politics, she served as both deputy leader and health critic. Elliott is the widow of former Harper government finance minister Jim Flaherty.
Rod Phillips
In November,
Phillips was nominated to represent the PCs in Ajax and, along with Mulroney, was seen as boosting the party’s star power for the 2018 election. Until November 2017, Phillips was also the chair of Postmedia, the country’s largest chain of newspapers, which includes the Ottawa Citizen and the National Post. He also served as CEO and President of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
With files from the Canadian Press