Doug Ford elected new Ontario PC leader: sources say

#DougFord, #ProgressiveConservatives, #PC, #PatrickBrown

Ottawa, Mar 10 (Canadian-Media): Doug Ford, the former Toronto city councillor has been elected the new Ontario's Progressive Conservatives (PC) leader beating his rivals Christine Elliott, Caroline Mulroney and Tanya Granic Allen in a tense contest, media reports said.

In a distinct populist campaign, Ford had been reportedly telling reporters that he decided to run for "the people."

  Doug Ford. Image credit: Twitter handle

The 44-day long leadership race that had reportedly been prompted by the resignation of former leader Patrick Brown in January after two women accused him of sexual misconduct.

When Doug learnt that the registration code was reportedly available only to select members to cast a ballot, Ford got an extension of the voting period with the consent of Mulroney and Granic Allen, though Christine did not agree to this.

Turnout of votes was reportedly higher than in any other leadership contest in its history with preferential ballots of 64, 053  cast over the week-long voting period, though 71,450 total members were registered.

In the previous record of 2002, reportedly a total of only 44,188 ballots were cast .


(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)