As Progressive Conservative party members get set to vote for their next leader, three of the four leadership hopefuls will debate live on 980 CFPL Thursday afternoon.
Christine Elliot, Doug Ford and Tanya Granic Allen will all appear on The Andrew Lawton Show from 1:30 p.m. until 3 p.m. Thursday.
It’ll be the final debate before party members decide on their next leader.
Hosted in London, Ont., the debate will be broadcast live on 980 CFPL and streamed on Facebook.
All candidates in the field were invited. Caroline Mulroney’s campaign declined the invitation. Patrick Brown was slated to attend, but withdrew from the race.
If Wednesday’s debate was any indication, some familiar themes will once again be front and centre.
The candidates spent most of Wednesday’s debate talking about allegations of corruption within the party and former leader Patrick Brown.
Former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford says he’s focused on getting the Tories back in power.
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“I don’t know why we keep talking about Patrick Brown, I’m focused on the future of this party, I’m zoned in on Kathleen Wynne.”
Tanya Granic Allen says the issues within the party need to be addressed.
“We have to address the corruption in our party, because if you want to deal with sexual harassment then you have to tackle the climate, and that climate of doing what I want, how I want, when I want, it was a pervasive mentality in Queen’s Park with Patrick Brown and his team, and we have to address that.”
Caroline Mulroney maintains that she’s the only candidate who has laid out a plan to address problems within the party.
“I did propose a sexual harassment policy for the PC party, we need to strengthen this policy in the party, and when I’m leader and premier, we will also strengthen it in Queen’s Park.”
Following a heated exchange on the issue, candidate Christine Elliott eventually called for a focus on the Tories’ real enemy.
“It’s really important we remember why we are all here, we all have to come together when this is all over, the target here is Kathleen Wynne, not each other.”
London has been a hot spot for campaign stops recently. Mulroney was in London Tuesday, and Ford brought his campaign to the forest city over the weekend.
Ford would have a slim lead over Elliott for the party leadership if the election were held today, according to a poll provided to Global News.
The Mainstreet Research poll was conducted between Feb. 21 and 26 among a sample of 17,399 Ontario PC party members. They were asked to rank their top three choices for party leader. The survey found that 36.7 per cent of decided voters would support Ford.
PC members have until March 5 to register to vote in the leadership race. The online voting period runs from March 2 to 8. Results will be revealed on March 10.
The provincial election will be held on or before June 7.
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