Christine Elliott pitches herself as Ontario premier in waiting
While Christine Elliott is apparently trailing in the PC leadership race, her campaign wants to paint her as the only viable alternative to Premier Kathleen Wynne.

thestar.com
April 27, 2015
By Robert Benzie

With the Progressive Conservative leadership contest coming down to the wire, Christine Elliott is touting herself as an electable alternative to Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Speaking to a Canadian Club luncheon at the InterContinental Hotel on Monday, Elliott strived to sound more like a premier in waiting than a candidate trailing insurgent challenger Patrick Brown.

“Last week, Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals tabled a budget that fails Ontarians by mortgaging our children’s future to pay for their own political priorities,” the Whitby-Oshawa MPP said.

Elliott bemoaned the Grits’ “continued deficits” and a provincial debt that will be $325 billion by the time of the next election in 2018.

“If we continue down the Liberal path, our economy will continue to languish,” said the 60-year-old widowed mother of three grown sons.

“The Liberal’s repeated failure to implement a coherent economic plan is, as my sons would say, an epic fail. It also carries a high cost in both the short- and long-term,” she said.

Mindful that Brown, a 36-year-old bachelor and Barrie Conservative MP, sold more PC memberships than she did, Elliott tried to look past the May 9 one-member-one-vote leadership election.

“As premier of Ontario, I will conduct a line-by-line analysis of government spending. We need to make sure taxpayer dollars are delivering real value for Ontarians,” the nine-year MPP said.

“As premier of Ontario, I will simplify our tax system for Ontario’s job creators. I will review the tax code from top to bottom to identify ways to make the tax system easier for businesses and all Ontarians to understand. I will also ensure all taxpayers pay their fair share by closing loopholes,” she said.

“As premier, I will put unlocking the potential of our economy through innovation at the core of my economic plan,” said Elliott.

“As premier, I will order an immediate review of all assets owned by the government,” she said.

It is not an accident that Elliott was striking a premier-like tone.

While she is apparently trailing Brown on the eve of next week’s contest, her campaign wants to paint her as the only viable alternative to Wynne in the 2018 provincial vote.

Liberal insiders have quietly conceded to the Star that they feel Elliott, a centrist, would be a more formidable opponent than Brown.

While they respect Brown’s organizational abilities and his deftness at courting Ontario’s diverse cultural communities, the Grits believe they can exploit his social conservatism in three years.