A former candidate in the most recent provincial election believes the Ontario Progressive Conservatives has made a big first step towards returning to power.
Derek Parks, who ran under the PC banner in Thunder Bay-Superior North in last year’s election, said the party made the right decision in selecting Patrick Brown as its next leader.
Brown, a 36-year-old federal back-bench Conservative MP, was announced on Saturday as the winner of the leadership race after defeating deputy leader Christine Elliott.
“I’ve never met someone who’s willing to work so hard for the opportunity to bring Ontario back to where it needs to be,” Parks said when reached at the party convention.
“He’s very genuinely concerned about where this province is going…We’re in a fiscal mess and we have another three years and we have to get our act together to defeat the Liberals in 2018.”
Brown was the preferred option in both city ridings, capturing nearly 70 per cent of the vote in both Thunder Bay-Atikokan and Thunder Bay-Superior North.
As a former Barrie city councillor as well as MP in that riding, Brown represents an outside voice to the provincial party that has been defeated in four straight elections.
“I think it’s a clean slate. It’s new energy,” Parks said. “We’re showing the party that the north is interested and seeds are being sown to really push for 2018.”
Parks, who has actively campaigned for Brown since the outset of the leadership race, has been critical of how former leader Tim Hudak handled the region during last year’s vote, skipping a leaders’ debate attended by counterparts Kathleen Wynne and Andrea Horwath and failing to make a single visit during the campaign.
During the past 10 months Brown and his team have shown a commitment to Northern Ontario, which is a refreshing break from recent history.
“They realize we need Northern Ontario going just like every other part of the province and Patrick has championed that with nine trips to the north during his campaign,” Parks said.
“It’s fair to say in the past 15 years Northern Ontario has been neglected by the Ontario PC party.”
