After crisscrossing the province for the past eight months and meeting potential supporters at banquets, in basements and in backyards, members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario will learn who will lead them into the 2018 election.
More than 74,000 votes will be counted this morning. Leadership election results are announced Saturday afternoon in Toronto.
Who are the candidates?
An early field of five candidates whittled down to two: Christine Elliott, current deputy party leader, three term MPP for Whitby-Oshawa, and widow of former federal finance minister Jim Flaherty against Patrick Brown, a federal MP from Barrie and former city councillor.
Both Elliott and Brown are lawyers. Former leadership candidates Vic Fedeli and Lisa MacLeod support Elliott, while Monte McNaughton supports Brown.
Both will make history if chosen. If Elliott wins, she will be the first woman to lead the party. If Brown wins, he will be the youngest leader in the party's history.
Elliott – After working in a law firm she co-founded with her late husband and two others, Elliott joined Queen’s Park after winning a byelection in Whitby-Oshawa, replacing her husband who was elected at the federal level. She has served as critic for health, citizenship, the attorney general and women’s issues. She ran for leader of the party in 2009 and came third behind former Newmarket MPP Frank Klees and winner Tim Hudak. She’s since served as deputy leader of the party under Hudak.
Brown – After a brief stint as a lawyer and two terms as a Barrie city councillor, Brown won his first federal election campaign in 2006. He’s increased his vote share in each election since. As a federal MP, Brown prided himself on reaching out to the diverse cultural communities of the GTA. He’s travelled to India 15 times, serves as chair of the Canada-India Parliamentary association and maintains a friendship with Narendra Modi, the serving prime minister of India.
Who supports who
Christine Elliott counts the endorsements of 18 of the party’s 28 sitting MPs, along with former PC Premier Bill Davis, and 25 federal MPs, including former foreign affairs minister John Baird. Patrick Brown has secured support from only four sitting PC MPPs, along with 22 federal MPs and former Canadian Alliance party leader Stockwell Day.
Brown’s sustained criticism of Elliott as an “establishment” candidate who could be blamed for the party’s recent electoral losses has drawn open hostility from several sitting PC MPPs, including Simcoe North’s Garfield Dunlop, who told a Barrie newspaper Brown would be “the last guy I’d choose,” for PC party leader.
Main differences include stance on sex-ed, policy depth, experience
As the field thinned, Elliott and Brown’s attacks on each other became more frequent. Brown has attacked Elliott as part of the Tory establishment that led to the party losing four successive elections. While Elliott has called Brown a “career politician” with “no substantive record” in his nine years as a federal legislator. But the topic that has emerged to cause the most hostility between the two is whether to support Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s new sex education curriculum for elementary students. Brown has called for significant changes to what is taught about sexual health in schools, while Elliott has asked for more consultation.
There have been few platform promises made during this campaign. Elliott has promised to lower corporate income tax to 10 per cent from 11.5 per cent over three years. Brown has said little about how he would govern if elected premier, instead focusing on reaching out to ethnic groups that have been traditionally overlooked by the provincial Tories, such as the GTA’s growing South Asian community.
How did we get here?
On the night of June 12, 2014, then PC leader Tim Hudak, conceding defeat to the Ontario Liberal Party, told a room full of supporters in his home riding of Niagara West-Glanbrook he was stepping down. It was the second defeat he’d led the party through after becoming leader five years earlier. And instead of reversing gains the Liberals made when they bested him for the first time in 2011, his party lost even more seats in 2014, allowing the Liberals to regain their majority they lost during the previous election under a new leader, Kathleen Wynne. Elliott announced she would seek leadership of the party before Hudak even officially stepped down as leader on July 2. Brown announced his candidacy on Sept. 29. Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson led the party in the interim.
How does the vote work?
PC Party members had six hour periods on two days — May 3 and May 7—to tick either Brown or Elliott on a paper ballot. Voters had to cast ballots in the provincial electoral riding they reside in. Results of the vote will be announced at the party’s convention, to be held at the Toronto Congress Centre. Results are expected to be made public by 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Why is this convention different than others?
Unlike the most recent provincial Liberal and NDP leadership campaigns, no voting will take place at the actual convention. Results from the previous pair of voting days will be announced, and the winner will take the stage. Since there are only two candidates, there is no opportunity for a runoff vote either. There are no delegates, with each party member voting once to select the candidate.
