Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller says Doug Ford wasn’t his choice, but he’s over it and ready to get behind Ford to take on Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals.
“It was a ranked ballot and my first vote was for Caroline Mulroney and my second vote was for Christine Elliott and I stopped there,” said Miller of last Saturday’s leadership convention which saw party faithful elect Doug Ford as party leader heading into a June provincial election.
“He’s been a guy who’s certainly been in business and been a fiscal Conservative but also a person who’s ready to stand up for the common person, the little guy,” said Miller, who also described Ford as a polarizing figure.
“For me, I probably will lose some moderate supporters. I guess I’ve got to hope that I pick up those that are big supporters of Doug and he’s got lots of supporters. So I have to hope that balances itself out,” said Miller, adding that his main focus will be working hard for this riding.
He said he’s also pleased that both Elliott and Mulroney are planning to stick around. He’s hoping they’ll have “significant roles to play and it’d be a good moderating voice in caucus as well.”
In the meantime, Conservatives have a lot of work to do leading up to June’s election.
“I’m getting behind Doug Ford, supporting him and certainly I think it’s going to be a very clear choice for the voters on June 7th,” said Miller, adding that there seems to be a strong desire for change in Ontario, particularly after 15 years of Liberal governments.
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I totally agree with Bob Slatter. How about giving him a chance before listing your REAL choices? Hopefully, he will become far more visual and productive than a lot of our politicians – seems Tony Clement is the only one visual and active on a regular basis. Best of luck to Mr. Ford.
Hopefully you will not continue to bad mouth your leader elected by the process. Muskoka needs a lot of things that need government support and funding and bad mouthing the process with this and that is NOT the way to get what Muskoka needs!