{"id":20086,"date":"2018-03-14T14:47:57","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T18:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20086"},"modified":"2018-03-21T15:32:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T19:32:25","slug":"ford-named-progressive-conservative-leader-after-chaotic-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/ford-named-progressive-conservative-leader-after-chaotic-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford named Progressive Conservative leader after chaotic convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Toronto councillor Doug Ford was named leader of the Progressive Conservative party Saturday after a chaotic leadership convention in Markham.
\nFord narrowly beat fellow frontrunner \u2013 and former PC MPP \u2013 Christine Elliot to the party\u2019s top job by just 153 votes (6,202\/6049), with leadership hopefuls Caroline Mulroney, PC candidate in York-Simcoe, and activist Tanya Granic Allen, coming in third and fourth respectively.
\nIt was supposed to be a quick contest with the results of the first, second and third ballots, if needed, announced by 3.30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, but after discrepancies were claimed by candidates, the vote dragged out until late into the evening, and Ms. Elliott withholding her concession until the following day.
\n\u201cLeadership races can be tough on political parties, and for the candidates that compete in them,\u201d said Mr. Ford in a statement. \u201cFor me, there was no tougher part than running against Christine Elliott. I have been fortunate to call her my friend over the last two decades, and with good reason. There is no one I can think of that represents exactly what we need in public service: she is a dedicated mother, intelligent leader and hard-working volunteer who has shown tremendous compassion through her work with the Abilities Centre. Lastly, her commitment to our Party is second to none.\u201d
\nBoth candidates spent part of the last full week of the truncated leadership campaign in Aurora\u2019s two ridings, sharing their respective visions for Ontario ahead of the June 7 Provincial Election.
\nThis will be the first year Aurora\u2019s Provincial riding boundaries will correspond with the re-drawn Federal boundaries introduced ahead of the 2015 Federal Election and, as such, Aurora will be divided at Wellington Street. Aurora north of Wellington will still vote in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, while the south side will be part of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill.
\nCharity McGrath, who endorsed Mr. Ford in the leadership race, will carry the PC banner in Newmarket-Aurora, while the Blues will be represented in the south riding by Michael Parsa, who endorsed Ms. Elliott.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s exciting times,\u201d said Mr. Parsa, who was on the convention floor, noting the break in the results created \u201cunease\u201d among some of the party members. \u201cBut, it was part of the process. Once they announced [the results] everybody was happy, ready to move on, and it is exciting times now.\u201d
\nAlthough, at press time, Mr. Parsa said he had yet to speak with the newly-minted leader since the leadership vote was announced, he says he looks forward to interacting with him soon.
\n\u201cEverything I\u2019ve heard from everyone who knows him well has said he is a very inclusive guy, he likes to work with everybody and have the input of candidates,\u201d said Mr. Parsa.
\nWhen asked why he endorsed Christine Elliott over the other candidates, Mr. Parsa said he has known her for a long time.
\n\u201cThere are certain things you look for, there\u2019s loyalty to the people you know and trust, so that was my main focus,\u201d he said. \u201cI was happy every candidate had their strengths as well, and I personally knew Christine.\u201d
\nIn addition to the hitches that arose in electronic voting, there was electoral contention even before the voting closed with many Party members complaining they did not receive their personal PIN numbers in the mail allowing them to cast their vote in the leadership process as the clock ticked down to last Friday\u2019s deadline.
\nThis snafu led to a last-minute legal bid to extend the voting by a week, a bid ultimately rejected by the courts, which, in turn, ultimately led to frustration from members.
\nAmong the thousands of potential voters unable to participate in the process was Aurora resident Greg Smith, who says he was looking forward to casting his vote for Mr. Ford. Mr. Ford, says Mr. Smith, is a \u201cdisrupter\u201d and that is an important quality to bring about change at Queen\u2019s Park.
\nBut, his vote was not to be.
\n\u201cI thought it put out a very bad message of, well, if you can\u2019t get your house in order and look after your own affairs, it puts doubt in people\u2019s minds whether you are going to be able to do that with the Province\u2019s affairs,\u201d says Mr. Smith. \u201cI think they should have spent a little more time to get the system right before they went and put some firm deadlines on when the vote was, etc.
\n\u201cI sent an email to the party, I also engaged with some of the candidates, with their teams, to see about helping out and, quite honestly, I did not hear anything back. I don\u2019t think it is my responsibility to spend a lot of time trying to track down the fact I haven\u2019t received anything. I can say quite honestly when we had a little get-together on Friday night, of the group sitting there, half of them did not have a verification letter.\u201d
\nNevertheless, Mr. Smith says this does not put a dent in his intention to cast a vote for the PC party in the spring, but there is a need to address \u201csystemic problems\u201d within the party.
\nMs. McGrath had not responded to The Auroran\u2019s request for comment by press time. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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