Why Doug Ford has a good shot at becoming Ontario PC leader
Party nabobs may not want Doug Ford, writes Thomas Walkom. But his rage could appeal to the rank and file.
By Thomas Walkom, National Affairs Columnist
Don’t count Doug Ford out.
The former Toronto councillor is dismissed by many as a long shot in the Ontario Tory leadership race.
He is said to be too right-wing, too angry and too controversial.
Most Ontarians know him only as the brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, a man who until his death in 2016 was treated in the media as a populist buffoon.
The smart money says that if Doug Ford becomes Progressive Conservative leader next month, the party’s chances of ousting Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals from government will diminish considerably.
Who knows? The smart money may be right.
But that doesn’t mean the Tories won’t choose Ford anyway.
His outsider campaign has resonance within a party that has long been split — between left and right, between urbanites and rural voters, between true believers and compromisers.
When Ford rails against what he calls the elites, many Conservative voters quietly nod in agreement.
“Make no mistake,” Ford thundered when announcing his candidacy last week. “The elites of this party, the ones who have shut out the grassroots, do not want me in this race.”
In that, he is almost certainly correct. The PC nabobs do not want Ford chosen as leader. They would prefer either political neophyte Caroline Mulroney or former MPP Christine Elliott.
Going into the June election, both are seen as safer choices.
But the party has the distressing habit of ignoring the nabobs and making unsafe choices.
In 1990, it defied the then Red Tory old guard and chose Mike Harris. Harris tanked in the subsequent general election but recovered to win two back-to-back majority governments.
The rest here.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/sta...-good-shot-at-becoming-ontario-pc-leader.html
Party nabobs may not want Doug Ford, writes Thomas Walkom. But his rage could appeal to the rank and file.
By Thomas Walkom, National Affairs Columnist
Don’t count Doug Ford out.
The former Toronto councillor is dismissed by many as a long shot in the Ontario Tory leadership race.
He is said to be too right-wing, too angry and too controversial.
Most Ontarians know him only as the brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, a man who until his death in 2016 was treated in the media as a populist buffoon.
The smart money says that if Doug Ford becomes Progressive Conservative leader next month, the party’s chances of ousting Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals from government will diminish considerably.
Who knows? The smart money may be right.
But that doesn’t mean the Tories won’t choose Ford anyway.
His outsider campaign has resonance within a party that has long been split — between left and right, between urbanites and rural voters, between true believers and compromisers.
When Ford rails against what he calls the elites, many Conservative voters quietly nod in agreement.
“Make no mistake,” Ford thundered when announcing his candidacy last week. “The elites of this party, the ones who have shut out the grassroots, do not want me in this race.”
In that, he is almost certainly correct. The PC nabobs do not want Ford chosen as leader. They would prefer either political neophyte Caroline Mulroney or former MPP Christine Elliott.
Going into the June election, both are seen as safer choices.
But the party has the distressing habit of ignoring the nabobs and making unsafe choices.
In 1990, it defied the then Red Tory old guard and chose Mike Harris. Harris tanked in the subsequent general election but recovered to win two back-to-back majority governments.
The rest here.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/sta...-good-shot-at-becoming-ontario-pc-leader.html
