Bill Kelly: Outsiders take over the PC leadership race

“Curiouser and curiouser!” That quote from Alice in Wonderland may be the best way to describe what’s happening in the Ontario PC Party leadership race.

Since the surprise resignation of Patrick Brown last week, the party is scrambling to find new leadership with an election only a few months from now.


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After days of indecision, the party decided to hold a leadership contest on March 10, but the real story is the individuals who have tossed their hats into the ring to take the top job.

The bombastic Doug Ford; former MPP and party deputy leader Christine Elliott; media mogul Rod Philips; and Caroline Mulroney, the daughter of Brian Mulroney, will duke it out to be the next leader of the Ontario Tories and maybe the next premier.


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What’s interesting is that none of the contenders currently have a job at Queen’s Park. Philips and Mulroney have never even held elected office.

Elliott is the only political veteran, but she’s run for the leadership twice before and lost both times.

This is clearly the era of the outsider in politics — a time in which political experience seems to be a liability, not an asset. Ontario’s next premier could be someone with little to no political background.

If that happens, we can only hope that it works out better than it has for our neighbours to the south.

Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on Global News 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News.

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