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Affordable energy rates top priority for PC leadership hopeful

THUNDER BAY – If elected leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, Christine Elliott plans to start her tenure with a thorough review of provincial energy policies.
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Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Christine Elliott addresses a room of supporters at a breakfast gathering held at the Valhalla Inn on Tuesday morning. (Matt Vis, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – If elected leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, Christine Elliott plans to start her tenure with a thorough review of provincial energy policies.

The leadership candidate and current MPP for Whitby-Oshawa said one of her first orders of business would be convening a panel of experts immediately after the results of the vote are announced on May 9 to begin developing a plan to make energy rates more competitive and affordable.

“It’s probably the single most important issue I hear about from residential consumers as well as commercial consumers,” she said.

“We need to get those rates under control and I think what we need to start with is developing a comprehensive energy policy because we don’t have that in Ontario. We have conventional sources of energy, we have green energy and then we have Hydro One which is right in the midst of things trying to deal with transmission and billing issues.”

Elliott is one of three candidates remaining in the final stages of the race as she’s running against fellow PC MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) and federal Conservative MP Patrick Brown (Barrie).

The breakfast gathering, which was held at the Valhalla Inn, marked her third visit to Thunder Bay since the leadership campaign kicked off in the fall.

She said to expect to keep seeing her all across the province if she is successful.

“What I would do as leader is continue to visit Northern Ontario and make sure I understand all of the issues,” she said.

“If you’re going to be leader of a party and potentially Premier of the province you need to know the issues that are relevant in all parts of the province and you can’t know that unless you actually get there.”

While other economic issues such as fiscal responsibility and availability of jobs remain top of mind across Ontario, she has heard about specific Northwestern Ontario concerns.

“The major issue continues to be lack of development of the Ring of Fire. It’s so important for Northern Ontario but Southern Ontario as well,” she said.

Addressing significant infrastructure gaps is also a primary concern.

“People need roads, bridges and maintenance. We need to be able to make sure we’re able to afford those things,” Elliott said.

For Elliott, McNaughton and Brown, next month’s vote is only the first step for whichever candidate takes the helm of a party that has struggled at the polls over the past 12 years.

The PCs have fallen behind the governing Liberals in the last four election, well short of their expectations.

“We’ve got to win in 2018,” Elliott said.





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