The race to replace Patrick Brown as Ontario PC Party leader has begun and things are moving quickly!

The deadline to purchase a membership to the PC Party in order to vote is Friday February 16 at 5pm. Click here to buy your one-year membership or go to https://secure.ontariopc.com/Partyjoin

As of this moment, there are three declared candidates:

• Caroline Mulroney- daughter of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and PC Party candidate for MPP in York-Simcoe
• Christine Elliot- former Whitby MPP, and wife of the late Jim Flaherty
• Doug Ford- former City of Toronto Councillor, brother of former Toronto Mayor - the late Rob Ford

At this early stage, PAFE is still evaluating each of the candidates and where they stand on important issues to parents including Wynne’s Radical Sex-Ed Agenda.

You can be sure that PAFE will be very careful in evaluating each of the candidates’ positions on these matters. We expect clear answers to the important issues affecting parents and their families. And we expect them to show the courage to stand up for Ontario parents and their children.

Let’s see what’s been said so far.

Caroline Mulroney

The CBC reported Caroline Mulroney has already declared that she “will not reopen the divisive debate” on Kathleen Wynne’s Radical Sex-Ed Agenda.  

While this is disappointing, it is not surprising. Mulroney has accepted on to her campaign team top political “strategists” who were responsible for advising Patrick Brown during his disastrous tenure as PC Party leader.

What is disturbing to PAFE, however, is that Monte McNaughton has now shocked many of us by endorsing Mulroney’s candidacy and by virtue of this, is supporting her position on sex-ed.

Monte McNaughton, once the most vocal opponent to Wynne's sex-ed, is now endorsing the one candidate in the race who has promised not to revisit the issue. (This topic alone warrants a separate email.)

We'll keep you posted.

Christine Elliot

Recall that Christine Elliot ran in the 2015 PC leadership race. 

Towards the end of the campaign, she released a statement saying that in order for the PC Party to win the next election members should not “choose a leader whose outdated views fall far outside today’s mainstream.”

She added that “Patrick and Monte’s ideological rejection of a modern and inclusive Ontario will do nothing more than lose the next election and secure another term for Kathleen Wynne and her Liberals.”

Fast forward to this 2018 leadership race. An interview with the Toronto Sun claims that Christine Elliot is “willing to revisit the Liberals’ controversial sex-ed curriculum.”

Well that’s a tiny step in the right direction.

We’ll keep you posted.

Doug Ford

Doug Ford has recently said that he, too, will review Kathleen Wynne’s Radical Sex-Ed Agenda and “consult with parents” according to an interview with AM640. 

Doug’s brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, was the only high profile endorsement of McNaughton’s 2015 PC leadership campaign and was an outspoken critic of Wynne’s revisions to the sex-ed curriculum.

Doug Ford’s statements are also a tiny step in the right direction.

We’ll keep you posted.

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To be clear, PAFE will only endorse a candidate who is strong and clear on issues which affect the family. And PAFE will keep every candidate accountable for their positions on these issues, both during and after the leadership campaign. All leadership candidates who would like avoid making a fool of themselves as Patrick Brown did in his now infamous flip-flop on Wynne’s revised sex-ed curriculum, please take note.  

Sign up Today

In order to vote in the leadership, you must register as PC Party member by Friday February 16 at 5pm. Anyone who is 14 years or older, lives in Ontario, and is a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen can take out a membership.

Click here to buy your membership or go to https://secure.ontariopc.com/Partyjoin

A one year membership costs $10. Please encourage your family and friends to become a member.

Email me at [email protected] to let me know you have purchased your membership so I can email you more information.

Please, do not delay in getting your membership. We have an opportunity to make repealing the sex-ed an issue within this leadership race. We need to make our voices heard loud and clear.

For the family,

Tanya Granic Allen, President

IMPORTANT PS: When you sign up, you will see an option to indicate to the PC Party who suggested that you join/ who recruited you. Please DO NOT fill in this section – this is a bit of trap designed to make it easier to identify you as a PAFE supporter. So leave that part blank!

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