THUNDER BAY -- Patrick Brown is tired of watching from afar as provincial Progressive Conservatives squander election campaigns that are seemingly ripe for the taking.
That’s why the MP wants to move office from Ottawa to Toronto to bring the PCs to power for the first time since the 2003 election.
Brown, a former Barrie city councillor and current House of Commons representative for the area, is one of currently four contenders vying to take the reins of the Ontario PC party and lead them into the next provincial election, which is expected for 2018.
“I’m so frustrated seeing our party lose elections we should have won,” Brown said Saturday in an interview during a media meet-and-greet at the Valhalla Inn.
“The vast majority of Ontario wanted change and I believe Ontario desperately needs a new government. This new government on so many fronts did not merit re-election but we became the ballot question. We as Conservatives lost this election.”
Any notion that Ontario is not a conservative province can be dispelled by the 2011 federal election, Brown argued. The federal Conservatives received more than one million votes in Ontario than their provincial counterparts did in June’s election that gave the Liberals a majority mandate.
Part of the problem has been the recent history of leaders torpedoing campaigns that started strong.
Whether it was former leader Tim Hudak’s now infamous 100,000 public sector cuts plan or past leader John Tory wading into the Catholic schools funding debate unprovoked in 2007, it needs to stop.
“I want to make sure no candidate or party volunteer needs to worry about a surprise out of leftfield. I will not run on a policy plank that has not had the buy in and support of our party,” Brown said.
As it stands, Brown will take on current PC MPPs Christine Elliott (Whitby-Oshawa), Vic Fedeli (Nipissing) and Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) in next May’s leadership vote.
He is adamant that his position as an outsider to the current clique running the provincial party gives him a unique ability to rebuild what needs to become a grassroots movement.
“The policy development process has been a symptom of what’s wrong with the party. It’s a top-down party. My goal going forward is that the policy platform will be a product of the membership and that the final document will be voted on by riding presidents and candidates,” he said.
Brown has at least one supporter in the form of Derek Parks, who was the party’s nominee in the Thunder Bay-Superior North riding during the spring vote.
He said Brown represents a fresh start for the beleaguered party and appears to be the only candidate to show a genuine interest in the region.
“He’s free and clear of all the irks of the past 20 years. We’ve lost the last four provincial elections,” Parks said.
“The other cast of characters who have announced their leadership bids get to own a bit of what’s gone on, including the ignorance to the northern issues.”
Parks, who placed third behind Liberal electee Michael Gravelle and NDP candidate Andrew Foulds, was vocally critical of Hudak for skipping the leaders’ debate hosted in the city, which was attended by both Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne as well as NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
That won’t happen again if Brown is guiding the ship.
“If there’s a northern debate I will be here. I will make sure we have an aggressive and enthusiastic campaign in every northern riding. I want to make sure their voice is heard clear and true in our party,” he said.
