Christine Elliott lays out plan for asset sales, business tax cut
Tory leadership hopeful Christine Elliott says compassion and fiscal responsibility will lead the Progressive Conservatives out of the political wilderness and back into power.
“For too long, the Progressive Conservative Party has allowed (Liberal Premier) Kathleen Wynne to enjoy the monopoly on compassion. For too long, our party has been out of touch with every day Ontarians,” Elliott told a group of shivering reporters in front of Queen’s Park on Thursday.
While the Tories governed Ontario for 50 of the past 75 years, the party has lost four elections in a row to the Liberals, most recently to Wynne last June.
Elliott, the MPP for Whitby-Oshawa, laid out her four-point economic plan, which includes calling for Ontario business tax rate to be reduced to 10 per cent from 11.5 in order to attract investment.
“Here’s the simple truth: to be socially compassionate, you must first be fiscally responsible,” she said.
When Elliott was the first into the leadership race to replace Tim Hudak, the veteran MPP was considered the front-runner, but Patrick Brown, a federal Conservative MP from Barrie, is nipping at her heels by apparently selling by far the most memberships compared to both Elliott and her caucus colleague Monte McNaughton.
Elliott took a shot at Brown, who has refused to give up his federal seat or commit to running provincially even if he doesn’t win the leadership.
“If Mr. Brown wants to make a commitment to Ontario politics I would suggest that he might want to show that now,” she told reporters.
The winning candidate will be announced at the PC convention in Toronto on May 9.
Elliott, the widow of former federal finance minister Jim Flaherty, brushed aside the recent string of missteps by some party members. Among them, McNaughton was accused of a veiled swipe at Wynne being a lesbian while criticizing the new sex education curriculum and MPP Rick Nicholls acknowledged he doesn’t believe in evolution.
Her four point economic plan included:
“When I’m leader of our party and premier of our great province, I will implement the plan Ontario needs to put Ontario’s economy back on track,” she said.
Elliott said Ontarians are looking for a party that is not embroiled “in scandal after scandal,” referring to the three ongoing OPP investigations involving the Liberal government. In the latest, the Liberals stand accused of offering a bribe to get Andrew Olivier to give up his intention of being a candidate in the recent Sudbury byelection. Wynne has vehemently denied this happened.
Elliott also promised if she was to become premier she would call for an immediate review of all government assets.
“Assets that don’t serve the core functions of government will be divested. And every dollar made will be invested in new infrastructure right across the province,” she said.
