安省进步保守党领导人竞选: Doug Ford获胜

[ccc]

三位竞选人的年龄有意思：

Christine Elliott, 62
Doug Ford, 53
Caroline Mulroney, 43

 

[ccc]

With the Ontario Progressive Conservatives set to choose their new leader on March 10 — just six weeks after Patrick Brown's resignation over sexual misconduct allegations — the race will be one of the shortest in Canadian history, and possibly one of the most hostile.

Only days after Brown's departure as party leader, a member of Parliament and close friend of Brown called his ouster "an inside job" and claimed party officials are now trying to strip the memberships of tens of thousands of people. The interim leader said he would not run for the leadership to focus instead on "rooting out the rot." A nominated PC candidate also alleged an MPP harassed and intimidated her.

Here are a few of the names already in the race.

Caroline Mulroney
Caroline Mulroney, the daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, announced her intention to run to lead Ontario's Progressive Conservatives on Sunday. The move was widely expected since the race to find Brown's successor began.

Mulroney hinted her intention to run for the leadership as recently as this weekend, thanking those who supported her candidacy on Twitter over the weekend but stopping short of formally announcing her plans until Sunday.

Caroline Mulroney appeals to younger voters, most of whom are not part of the party’s base. (CBC)

She also received an early endorsement Sunday evening from former head of Ontario Lottery and Gaming and Ajax PC candidate Rod Phillips, who said earlier he was considering a run to lead the party.

"We have the opportunity to choose a determined, fresh and dynamic leader, in Caroline Mulroney," he said. "Caroline has my enthusiastic support, because she will unite our party and lead us to victory."

Mulroney has a law degree from New York University and work experience on Wall Street, but has never held elected office and has only rarely faced the media, though she had a quick interview with CBC's Catherine Cullen at last year's federal Conservative leadership convention.

Christine Elliott
Former MPP Christine Elliott took to Twitter on Thursday afternoon to announce her run for the party leadership in two words: "I'm in."

Elliott ran for the party's leadership twice but was defeated by Tim Hudak, and later by Patrick Brown. She is currently the province's medical patient ombudsman — a position she was appointed to by Premier Kathleen Wynne.

On Sunday, she told CBC News Network's The Weekly with Wendy Mesley that some members of Brown's campaign are now working with her, and that the party is coming together although people "are dispersing to different camps."

"There are people who are working on my campaign who worked with Patrick last time, and so I think that everybody is really sincere in their desire to work together to pull the party together and to make sure that we're ready to win an election in the next couple of months," she said.

Elliott, who was married to the late Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty, is also a former deputy leader of the PCs and represented Whitby–Oshawa from 2006 until her resignation in 2015.

Doug Ford
Doug Ford, brother of late Toronto mayor Rob Ford and a former Toronto city councillor, officially launched his bid for the leadership of the provincial Tories in a rally on Saturday.

Ford told the crowd that Wynne's government is out of touch with Ontarians and stressed that he was the candidate to keep taxes low. He also announced that he would not introduce a carbon tax.

"I will not support our policies that increase taxes and make life more expensive for each and every one of you," he said during Saturday's event. "We're going to make sure we don't have burden on families just trying to heat their homes. Folks, I'm not going to introduce a carbon tax."

Ford announced his candidacy early on, and political observers say the combination of name recognition, a well-defined message and open disdain for an unpopular government mean Ford could mount a credible challenge for the Tory leadership.

Doug Ford greets the crowd at Saturday's Rally for a Stronger Ontario. (Martin Trainor/CBC)

 

[ccc]

 

[ccc]

 

[ccc]

 

[阿土仔]

浏览附件735412

Caroline Mulroney, the Toronto lawyer and daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, is running to become the leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party.

Mulroney confirmed the news, which has been rumoured for over a week, in a series of interviews Sunday afternoon at a hockey arena in north Toronto. She took questions from reporters between watching her two boys play on their Triple A teams.

The 43-year-old mother of four said despite the recent turmoil within the party after the sudden resignation of former leader Patrick Brown, the Tories can come together and win the June 7 provincial election.

"After 15 years of Liberal government we need a fresh change," she said. "People are tired. They want a new government. They want something new. So, I decided to put my name forward."

Deflecting criticism
Mulroney believes she's the candidate to unite the disparate wings of the PC family, despite never having held elected office.

"I am committed to making sure that we deliver this change," she said. "People deserve a government that cares about them. As I've been knocking on doors, I know that I can be that leader and provide that leadership to the party."

After taking a quick break between interviews to snack on french fries her husband, Andrew Lapham, brought by, Mulroney got down to business, addressing the criticisms which have already been levelled at her.

"That means they're nervous," she said of her competitors in the race. "I can't control what other campaigns do. All I can do is make sure I can run a campaign that's true to the kind of person that I am."

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney arrives for a charity event in Toronto in 2010, with his son Mark, left, and daughter Caroline, right. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Mulroney has already been criticized for spending part of her life outside of Canada — she attended Harvard and New York University — but she says the attacks don't hold up.

"That's just a misstatement of fact," she said. "I've lived the majority of my life in Canada and Ontario."

Just hours after confirming she was in the race, Mulroney received a key endorsement from another rumoured candidate. Former Postmedia executive Rod Phillips said he will not seek the leadership and will throw his support behind Mulroney.

"Caroline and I, like many of our Party's candidates across Ontario, represent a new generation of inclusive and accountable leadership for the Progressive Conservative Party," Phillips, who's also the PC candidate for Ajax, said in a statement. "Caroline will unite our party and lead us to victory in June, and I look forward to working closely with her to achieve that."

浏览附件735418

Mulroney also weighed in on some of the most difficult issues facing the Tories as they try to regroup following Brown's resignation. She intends to consult party members about the PC platform — the so-called People's Guarantee — but says it's too early to say if she'd want to make changes to the document.

"I'll make sure we're open to conversations, but it's Day One of my campaign," she said.

Mulroney said she will stick to the PC pledge to cancel the Ontario government's cap-and-trade climate change plan, but hinted that she will keep the Tory platform's carbon tax, which funds most of the spending in the plan.

"This is something the federal government is imposing on all of the provinces," she said. "We have a choice to let them keep the revenue and administer it or we can make sure that we ... put the money back in people's pockets. I think we would be better suited to doing that than the Liberals are."

Mulroney also said she will not reopen the divisive debate about the Liberal government's sex education curriculum update.

Diverse career
Politics is just the latest move in a diverse career for Mulroney, who was acclaimed as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of York-Simcoe, north of Toronto, last August.

In 2014, she was appointed to the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to help oversee the development of a $4-billion second border span between the two cities.

In 2011, Mulroney co-founded the Shoebox Project, a non-profit that collects and distributes gifts to women who are homeless or at risk.

Prior to announcing her political plans, she served as vice-president of Toronto-based BloombergSen Investment Partners, and used to work at a venture debt fund.

Mulroney is photographed in Ottawa, alongside completed shoeboxes filled with personal items, to be given to women in shelters over the holiday season through her Shoebox Project initiative on Dec. 2, 2013. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

"It wasn't her plan to seek the leadership. She was very, very focused on the riding and on the community and that's where her efforts went," said Peter Van Loan, a legislator with the federal Conservative Party who acted as an adviser to Mulroney.

Though new to politics, Mulroney has shown herself to be hardworking and genuine, which has won her support in the community — even among those who may judge her based on the family name, Van Loan said.

"She has intrinsic strengths and intrinsic talents of her own, whatever her name may be," he said.

Mulroney's lack of political experience will likely be her biggest challenge, particularly against more seasoned candidates.

But Kathy Brock, a policy expert and political science professor at Queen's University in Kingston, said it could also play in her favour, bringing some freshness to the Tories at a time where their interim leader has vowed to clear out the "rot" from the party.

"This is one of the ways in which being more of a newcomer ... might actually be an advantage, given what the Conservatives are going through," Brock said.

Brown and former party president Rick Dykstra resigned within days of each other after being confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct, which they deny. The allegations have not been independently verified by The Canadian Press.

Mulroney's entry into the race means there will now be two high-profile women competing for the Tory reins, which could bolster the party's image, Brock said. Former Tory legislator Christine Elliott threw her hat in the ring in the last week.

Mulroney will join Christine Elliott as the second high-profile woman to contend for leadership of a the Ontario PCs after former leader Patrick Brown exited following sexual misconduct reports. (Justin Tang, Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

"That might be the type of thing that they need to get over the incident with Dykstra and Patrick Brown. It just gives them a new focus and new energy and it makes them look a little more current with the times," Brock said.

Toronto politician Doug Ford, brother of the city's late former mayor Rob Ford, is also in the running.

Candidates have until Feb. 16 to register, and the new leader will be announced March 10.

报告村长：头一张图中那女士的两个纽扣骚扰我！

 

[ccc]

报告村长：头一张图中那女士的两个纽扣骚扰我！

看到效果了，不错!　

 

[eclipse]

这个Caroline Mulroney明确不会重开sex-ed讨论，应该也是个假装保守的左左，一切只为了当省头，没有自己的价值观 如果她当头，省选我不会给她投票。

 

[ccc]

 

[GuardianAngel]

关键看纲领。

 

[ccc]

关键看纲领。

现在是选党领，关键看谁能带领安省进步保守党夺取政权。

 

[GuardianAngel]

现在是选党领，关键看谁能带领安省进步保守党夺取政权。

只要不办傻事说傻话，好像"夺取政权"应该很容易吧？

 

[ccc]

只要不办傻事说傻话，好像"夺取政权"应该很容易吧？

YES/NO. 关键是党领。

 

[ccc]

MPP Michael Harris endorses Christine Elliott in PC leadership race
Two Waterloo region PC candidates also say Elliott has their support
CBC News Posted: Feb 07, 2018 10:41 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 07, 2018 10:41 AM ET

Christine Elliot has earned the support of three local PCers - one MPP and two candidates - in her bid to be the next leader of the party. (CBC)

Three Waterloo region politicians have announced they'll support Christine Elliott in her efforts to become the next leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.

Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris, along with Kitchener South-Hespeler candidate Amy Fee and Kitchener Centre candidate Mary Henein Thorn announced their endorsements Wednesday morning.

Elliott, a former MPP, is currently in the running to be the next leader against lawyer Caroline Mulroney and former Toronto councillor Doug Ford.

They are running to replace Patrick Brown, who stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct while he served as an MP.

In a join statement, Harris, Fee and Henein Thorn said Elliott is an "accountable leader who is committed to Ontario families and taxpayers."

Would-be candidates have until Feb. 16 to register. The new leader will be announced March 10.

 

[ccc]

Analysis
Strengths, weaknesses of each candidate make PC leadership race intriguing
With election day just 4 months away, question of who's best placed to beat Kathleen Wynne looms large
By Mike Crawley, CBC News Posted: Feb 06, 2018 7:22 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 06, 2018 7:25 AM ET

Ontario Progressive Conservative candidates Doug Ford, left, Caroline Mulroney and Christine Elliott, right. (Frank Gunn, Christopher Katsarov, Chris Young/Canadian Press)

Caroline Mulroney, Christine Elliott and Doug Ford will be under the microscope over the next four weeks as they try to win over the Ontario PC membership.

For Progressive Conservatives, the question is clear: who is the best candidate to take on Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP leader Andrea Horwath and lead the party through the spring election campaign?

A case can be made for each of the three, while rivals can point to flaws in each of them as well.

Doug Ford
Ford clearly has a strong and loyal grassroots following. He persuaded hundreds of people to attend a rally on a cold and snowy Saturday night in Toronto to kick off his leadership campaign.

"The people who like Doug Ford and like what he says do not care about the problems, do not care about the occasional bozo eruption," says political analyst Karl Bélanger, a former national director of the NDP and current president of the Douglas-Caldwell Foundation. "They see him as one of them and speaking for them and standing up for them. And that's very important in politics."

Doug Ford at a news conference to announce his Ontario PC leadership bid (Julie-Anne Lamoureux/Radio-Canada)

Ford's pitch that he is an outsider, not part of the Tory establishment, could resonate with many of the new members who joined the PCs under Brown's tenure.

That outsider status could also be his biggest weakness. Ford does not have a surplus of allies in the corridors of power in the PC party. He may dismiss that as unnecessary, even be proud of it, but to win a leadership race, friends in high places don't usually hurt.

Ford will also need to be careful and disciplined in his public comments to avoid making people think it's too risky to have him leading the party.

Christine Elliott
The second person to officially declare a candidacy, Elliott has more political experience than either of her rivals, including time spent as the deputy leader of the PC party.

"I do have nine years of experience as an MPP," Elliott said in an interview with CBC's Wendy Mesley. "I've also done a lot of work as a volunteer in my community, I truly believe I'm the one who can lead the party and beat Kathleen Wynne."

But Elliott's track record can also be seen as a disadvantage. Her critics will suggest she is bringing nothing new or fresh to a party that's been out of power for 14 years. She failed to win the 2009 PC leadership contest, losing to Tim Hudak, and left politics after losing the 2015 race to Patrick Brown.

"Christine Elliott, sure she has experience," said Toronto deputy mayor and PC candidate Denzil Minnan-Wong, a Mulroney backer. "She has the experience of losing twice in leadership campaigns."

Caroline Mulroney
"I care deeply about this," declared Mulroney in an interview with CBC News on Monday. "I know I can lead the party to victory on June 7th."

That would be a huge accomplishment for someone who until now has never run for office. (Mulroney became the PC candidate in the riding of York-Simcoe by acclamation.) She has a skilled backroom team that is ready to roll, having inherited much of former leader Patrick Brown's campaign machinery. So far, Mulroney has more endorsements from PC caucus members than either of her rivals.

Mulroney also has "instant name recognition," said Bélanger. He said the positives that name provides in the way of media exposure and connections in the party outweigh any negative baggage that might be associated with her father's time as prime minister.

Trained as a lawyer with a career in finance, Mulroney has an impressive business résumé. But she has no political experience. And politics - especially the bare-knuckle politics of a leadership race and an election campaign - is a whole new ball game.

"We don't know if she's going to hold her own in the political scene," said Bélanger. "That said, everything that I hear about her is that she's very good and there's a lot of people who believe in her."

The flip side of Mulroney's business background is that her work experience on Wall Street and Bay Street, coupled with the fact her four children are in private school, could give her opponents ammunition to label her as privileged. A key factor will be whether ordinary people feel she comes across as authentic.