THUNDER BAY -- No matter who the competition is, Christine Elliott says she is going to run her race and try to get the numbers back on her party's side.
Elliott, MPP for Whitby-Oshawa, is the perceived front-runner in a five-way race to become the next leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. But the race could heat up should Doug Ford decide to run.
Elliott said it's a competition regardless of the candidates.
"I think at the end of the day what matters is delivering on the memberships," Elliott said Thursday in Thunder Bay.
The party has lost touch with grassroots members, upset at the way they were treated during the last provincial election. Elliott said it needs to listen to what people have to say.
Realignment on a practical, not ideological, level is needed.
"I think that the election loss was pretty bad for us but it's forced us to reexamine everything that we're doing with the party," she said.
It also needs to have policies that reflect the different needs of every region in the province.
"We need to devise solutions that are appropriate," she said.
The PCs with Elliott at the helm would develop the Ring of Fire. The Liberals have been busy with studies and different groups working on development but nothing tangible has come out of any of a project that is so important to Northerners and all of Ontario she said.
"We've got to get this under control," she said.
Elliott placed third behind Tim Hudak and Frank Klees in the 2009 PC leadership race.
