Her Time Has Come

Kelly McParland: Ontario Tories seek a new leader and a sense of identity

Posted: May 08, 2009, 1:20 PM by NP Editor

It would be hard to find two more disparate candidates for the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives than Randy Hillier and Christine Elliott, which is appropriate given they are fighting a contest to head a party in the midst of an identity crisis.
There was a time when Ontario's Tories were one of the great sure things of Canadian politics, as certain as Liberal governments in Ottawa. It ran the province for 43 uninterrupted years of steadily increasing prosperity. Like the federal Liberal party it stood for everything. Whatever you wanted the party to stand for, it stood for. It was a chameleon that succeeded by anticipating the fluctuating attitudes of the electorate, and shamelessly adjusting its own positions to reflect the current mood.

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Ontario leadership hopeful backs flat tax

Christine Elliott, a candidate for leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives, called yesterday for the elimination of the province’s multiple income tax brackets and the implementation of a flat 8% tax for all residents.

The introduction of a flat tax would reduce the burden on all taxpayers, increase their disposable income and boost the funding available for investment in new businesses, according to Ms. Elliott.

“We need to do something significant,” she told the National Post’s editorial board. “Incremental change is not going to be enough to stimulate the economy to the extent that we need. We need to be competitive with other jurisdictions … and this is the way we need to go to turn Ontario around. ”

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