BARRIE, Ont. - Federal Conservative MP Patrick Brown officially jumped into the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race on Sunday with a pledge to break from a status quo he says has cost the party four straight elections.
"I'm tired of seeing us lose. I'm tired of seeing us score goals on our own net. I'm tired of seeing inside-baseball infighting," Brown said during a campaign launch speech in his Barrie, Ont., riding.
"I believe with every fibre of my being that if we work together, a strong, stable, majority Progressive Conservative government is within our reach."
Brown, 36, said the Ontario Tories have "lost touch" with grassroots supporters — a contingent Brown said he would give a greater say in shaping party matters such as how it picks policies.
Throughout his speech he drew a sharp line between the way he said the Ontario Progressive Conservatives have been doing things — and what they should do instead.
"Before we can become the party we need to be, we need a clean break from the party we were."
And he's promising to expand the Ontario party's tent to draw in voters from new corners — including youth and new Canadians in urban ridings who he called "conservative at heart."
"Ontario PCs of today must reach out. These relationships need to be founded in respect and fostered constantly — and in some cases we're going to have to build it from square one."
Like the three other candidates, Brown also tried to put space between himself and the party's spring election pledge to slash 100,000 public sector jobs, saying that it scared away potential voters working in frontline services such as nursing, firefighting and teaching.
"We spent a lot of energy going after the public sector, but at a high cost."
Brown has been an MP for Barrie since 2006, and he was a local councillor before that.
The Tories are still reeling after losing the June 12 election, which many in the party blame on the job-cuts promise — an idea from which each of the leadership hopefuls has tried to distance themselves.
The Ontario Liberals wasted no time in going after the newest PC leadership hopeful, saying Brown was among the first to congratulate then-leader Tim Hudak when he rolled out the jobs pledge.
Brown — with a campaign slogan of "For The Win" — becomes the fourth official entrant into the leadership race, which is expected to grow to at least five candidates next month.
The other declared candidates are MPPs Christine Elliott, Vic Fedeli and Monte McNaughton.
Potential candidates for the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership have until the end of January to file their nomination papers and until Feb. 28, 2015 to sign up new members.
Party members will pick their new leader in early May.
Some facts on the Ontario PC leadership race
Federal Conservative MP Patrick Brown entered the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race Sunday — the fourth hopeful to do so. Here are some brief profiles of the candidates — declared as well as likely — in the contest.
— Brown, 36, a former city councillor in Barrie, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2006 and is chair of the federal Conservatives Central Ontario caucus. As the only candidate without a seat in the Ontario legislature, Brown is expected to face an uphill climb because of the problems previous PC leader John Tory had when he couldn't win a byelection after convincing another MPP to step aside.
— Christine Elliott, 59, was first elected in the Whitby-Oshawa riding in a 2006 byelection and is the deputy leader of the Progressive Conservative party. A lawyer by trade, Elliott serves as the party's critic of health and long term care. Elliott, the widow of former finance minister Jim Flaherty, came third in a previous run at the PC leadership in 2009, when Hudak was elected.
— Vic Fedeli, 58, represents the riding of Nipissing and was first elected in 2011. Fedeli owned an advertising agency and then served as mayor of North Bay for seven years before jumping to provincial politics. Fedeli is the Conservatives' finance critic, and says he's tired of apologizing for his party and the campaigns that it runs. He says he launched his campaign in downtown Toronto because it's where the party must win seats if it wants to form government.
— Monte McNaughton, 37, represents the Sarnia area riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, and was first elected in 2011 after a failed attempt in 2007. As PC labour critic McNaughton was the champion of the controversial right-to-work policy that the Progressive Conservatives abandoned before the June election campaign. He says the party needs to be more "Main Street than Bay Street" as it attempts to rebuild.
— Lisa MacLeod, 39, was first elected in the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean-Carleton in a 2006 byelection and quickly earned a reputation as one of the Tories' strongest performers in the legislature. The Nova Scotia-born MacLeod hasn't officially declared her leadership intentions, but has already received endorsements from several of her PC seat mates. She is openly preparing a leadership bid and has been touring the province to drum up support.
Potential candidates for the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership have until the end of January to file their nomination papers and until Feb. 28, 2015 to sign up new members. Party members will pick their new leader in early May.
