Caroline Mulroney, the Toronto lawyer and daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, is running to become the leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party.
Mulroney confirmed the news, which has been rumoured for over a week, in a series of interviews Sunday afternoon at a hockey arena in north Toronto. She took questions from reporters between watching her two boys play on their Triple A teams.
The 43-year-old mother of four said despite the recent turmoil within the party after the sudden resignation of former leader Patrick Brown, the Tories can come together and win the June 7 provincial election.
"After 15 years of Liberal government we need a fresh change," she said. "People are tired. They want a new government. They want something new. So, I decided to put my name forward."
Deflecting criticism
Mulroney believes she's the candidate to unite the disparate wings of the PC family, despite never having held elected office.
"I am committed to making sure that we deliver this change," she said. "People deserve a government that cares about them. As I've been knocking on doors, I know that I can be that leader and provide that leadership to the party."
After taking a quick break between interviews to snack on french fries her husband, Andrew Lapham, brought by, Mulroney got down to business, addressing the criticisms which have already been levelled at her.
"That means they're nervous," she said of her competitors in the race. "I can't control what other campaigns do. All I can do is make sure I can run a campaign that's true to the kind of person that I am."
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney arrives for a charity event in Toronto in 2010, with his son Mark, left, and daughter Caroline, right. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)
Mulroney has already been criticized for spending part of her life outside of Canada — she attended Harvard and New York University — but she says the attacks don't hold up.
"That's just a misstatement of fact," she said. "I've lived the majority of my life in Canada and Ontario."
Just hours after confirming she was in the race, Mulroney received a key endorsement from another rumoured candidate. Former Postmedia executive Rod Phillips said he will not seek the leadership and will throw his support behind Mulroney.
"Caroline and I, like many of our Party's candidates across Ontario, represent a new generation of inclusive and accountable leadership for the Progressive Conservative Party," Phillips, who's also the PC candidate for Ajax, said in a statement. "Caroline will unite our party and lead us to victory in June, and I look forward to working closely with her to achieve that."
"We have the opportunity to choose a determined, fresh and dynamic leader, in Caroline Mulroney. @C_Mulroney has my enthusiastic support, because she will unite our party and lead us to victory" #PCPOLdr @OntarioPCParty pic.twitter.com/5Hws8rfgFf — Rod Phillips (@RodPhillips01) February 4, 2018
Mulroney also weighed in on some of the most difficult issues facing the Tories as they try to regroup following Brown's resignation. She intends to consult party members about the PC platform — the so-called People's Guarantee — but says it's too early to say if she'd want to make changes to the document.
"I'll make sure we're open to conversations, but it's Day One of my campaign," she said.
Mulroney said she will stick to the PC pledge to cancel the Ontario government's cap-and-trade climate change plan, but hinted that she will keep the Tory platform's carbon tax, which funds most of the spending in the plan.
"This is something the federal government is imposing on all of the provinces," she said. "We have a choice to let them keep the revenue and administer it or we can make sure that we ... put the money back in people's pockets. I think we would be better suited to doing that than the Liberals are."
Mulroney also said she will not reopen the divisive debate about the Liberal government's sex education curriculum update.
Diverse career
Politics is just the latest move in a diverse career for Mulroney, who was acclaimed as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of York-Simcoe, north of Toronto, last August.
In 2014, she was appointed to the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to help oversee the development of a $4-billion second border span between the two cities.
In 2011, Mulroney co-founded the Shoebox Project, a non-profit that collects and distributes gifts to women who are homeless or at risk.
Prior to announcing her political plans, she served as vice-president of Toronto-based BloombergSen Investment Partners, and used to work at a venture debt fund.
Mulroney is photographed in Ottawa, alongside completed shoeboxes filled with personal items, to be given to women in shelters over the holiday season through her Shoebox Project initiative on Dec. 2, 2013. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
"It wasn't her plan to seek the leadership. She was very, very focused on the riding and on the community and that's where her efforts went," said Peter Van Loan, a legislator with the federal Conservative Party who acted as an adviser to Mulroney.
Though new to politics, Mulroney has shown herself to be hardworking and genuine, which has won her support in the community — even among those who may judge her based on the family name, Van Loan said.
"She has intrinsic strengths and intrinsic talents of her own, whatever her name may be," he said.
Mulroney's lack of political experience will likely be her biggest challenge, particularly against more seasoned candidates.
But Kathy Brock, a policy expert and political science professor at Queen's University in Kingston, said it could also play in her favour, bringing some freshness to the Tories at a time where their interim leader has vowed to clear out the "rot" from the party.
"This is one of the ways in which being more of a newcomer ... might actually be an advantage, given what the Conservatives are going through," Brock said.
Brown and former party president Rick Dykstra resigned within days of each other after being confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct, which they deny. The allegations have not been independently verified by The Canadian Press.
Mulroney's entry into the race means there will now be two high-profile women competing for the Tory reins, which could bolster the party's image, Brock said. Former Tory legislator Christine Elliott threw her hat in the ring in the last week.
Mulroney will join Christine Elliott as the second high-profile woman to contend for leadership of a the Ontario PCs after former leader Patrick Brown exited following sexual misconduct reports. (Justin Tang, Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
"That might be the type of thing that they need to get over the incident with Dykstra and Patrick Brown. It just gives them a new focus and new energy and it makes them look a little more current with the times," Brock said.
Toronto politician Doug Ford, brother of the city's late former mayor Rob Ford, is also in the running.
Candidates have until Feb. 16 to register, and the new leader will be announced March 10.
Caroline Mulroney says she may be a political rookie, but will bring "a different kind of experience to Queen's Park" if she's elected not only as an MPP, but as leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives.
Mulroney is up against former MPP Christine Elliott and former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford for the party's top post, which is vacant following the resignation of Patrick Brown. Brown stepped down in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations from two women. The allegations have not been proven in court.
"I've been working for 20 years in law and business, I started a charity, and I've been doing that while raising kids," Mulroney, a mother of four, told CBC News on Monday morning.
"I think I bring a different kind of experience to Queen's Park."
Mulroney noted that unlike her two opponents for the leadership, she's been in the thick of the election cycle since last year. She was acclaimed as the PC candidate in the provincial electoral district of York-Simcoe last August.
While the governing Liberals have "lots of legislative experience," she said, "it's gotten us into the mess that we're in." After 15 years of Liberal government, voters are "looking for something different," she said.
"Although people haven't seen me on the floor of a legislature before, it doesn't mean that I don't have the skills and the qualifications to lead," she said. "I've just been doing it behind closed doors."
CBC speaks with Ontario PC leadership candidate Caroline Mulroney8:43
Mulroney, daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, is a lawyer who has also worked in finance. Before entering politics, she was vice president of Toronto-based BloombergSen Investment Partners, and previously worked at a venture debt fund.
Mulroney also co-founded the Shoebox Project, a charity that collects and distributes supplies for women living in shelters.
She has the support of fellow PC candidates and current caucus members, she said, and has been out knocking on doors as part of her campaign for the York-Simcoe seat. She is also expected to have an experienced war room: former federal Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt confirmed to CBC News that she will serve as one of Mulroney's leadership campaign co-chairs.
'Scrap cap and trade'
Asked about specific policy issues, such as the contentious carbon tax, Mulroney said she's "not in favour of taxes" as a conservative. But, she said, if a tax is coming down from the federal government it's likely best for the local government to decide where the money goes.
Asked about the governing Liberals' minimum wage hike, Mulroney reiterated the party's position that it would not roll it back.
"People deserve to earn a living wage. And I believe that," Mulroney said. "I just note that they've been in government for a long time, and the Liberals decided this was essential for Ontarians six months before an election."
She would "scrap cap and trade," she said, but noted it may take some time to dismantle the program, and she would look at how to cut hydro rates.
But on the issues of rent control or the recent introduction of OHIP+, which covers prescription medications for anyone in the province under age 25, Mulroney said she will wait to see how the initiatives are costed in the next provincial budget "before we start making any decisions about what we're cutting."
Mulroney won't 'throw punches'
On Sunday, Mulroney ended days of speculation about her leadership candidacy with two tweets, one with a Super Bowl theme in which she simply said, "It's game time."
On Monday, Mulroney said she's committed to "running a positive, unifying campaign," even if she faces criticism from her opponents for the time she has spent outside the country. Mulroney has degrees from both Harvard and New York University.
"I don't see this as an opportunity to throw punches at anybody. I have lived in Ontario most of my life. I have lived elsewhere. And what it's taught me is that this is the best place to live," Mulroney said.
Hours earlier, one of her potential Liberal opponents in York-Simcoe, Loralea Carruthers, issued a statement calling Mulroney a "parachute candidate" who is "taking local voters for granted."
"The announcement tonight that she will seek to lead the Conservative Party before earning a single local vote is presumptuous, and I believe the people of York–Simcoe will see through it," Carruthers, a business professional and York Region District School Board trustee, said in the statement issued late Sunday.
Carruthers, who is seeking the Liberal nomination, noted she has lived in the riding "for decades" and has long worked on community issues.
"Serving my home riding is my top priority," Carruthers said. "There's too much to be done locally to have a candidate distracted and using our riding as a stepping stone to higher office."
'Can't rush to judgment'
Should she win the leadership, Mulroney would not say whether she would sign Brown's nomination papers should he want to run in the next election, or whether she would kick him out of caucus.
She said she needs to "look closely at all of the facts" before making any decisions.
"We've got to look into it. Things have happened so quickly and we can't rush to judgment on anything," she said. "But the key thing is that we understand that women who've experienced these issues feel safe coming forward."
Asked about comments a female Doug Ford supporter made to a CBC News reporter over the weekend about not wanting a female premier, Mulroney replied:
"I'm shocked. We have a female premier of Ontario right now. We need to have the most qualified person as the premier of Ontario, and that's what this is about. As a woman, I'd love to have more women represented in politics. But this is really about the most qualified person."
Caroline Mulroney has name recognition. But recognizing her last name won’t tell most Ontarians much that’s useful about the latest candidate for leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives — official announcement is to come Monday — and, if all goes to plan, the province’s next premier. On Sunday, in the pub attached to the north Toronto arena where one of her sons was playing hockey, I asked her to introduce herself to the electorate.
“I’m a woman who has been working for 20 years in law and in business, and raising a family (with) four kids,” she said. “I put my name forward last year to be a candidate for the PC party in York-Simcoe because I couldn’t stand by any more and watch what the Liberals are doing to our province.”
People who open their doors are excited to see a Tory candidate when she knocks, she said. “They want to know that the PC party is going to deliver change.”
Mulroney, 43, is a Harvard- and NYU-educated lawyer, financier and philanthropist. Pending any further entries, she will be up against Doug Ford and Christine Elliott — respectively, a populist firebrand who promises to cancel former leader Patrick Brown’s carbon tax policy and replace its proceeds with “efficiencies;” and a centrist Tory veteran at Queen’s Park whose message is, basically, that she’s the safe and most reasonable path to victory.
Between now and March 10, Mulroney will be fishing for leadership votes in the same pond as Elliott. And she will need some compelling bait to counter Elliott’s safe-hand-on-the-tiller message. “I bring a different kind of experience,” said Mulroney. “The Liberals have been (in power) for 15 years, and 15 years of legislative experience has gotten us to where we are.”
Asked about her core issues, Mulroney didn’t go anywhere surprising: affordability, not least for childcare; the Liberals’ hydro mess; threats to the province’s future prosperity. Asked what makes her conservative, she cited traditional first principles: individual freedom; small government.
“I believe that government can look after the most vulnerable — we’ve got to look after the most vulnerable — but we’ve got to be careful about how we spend our money,” she said. “I believe in self-reliance, and that what we need to do is create the conditions for people to lift themselves up.”
Asked what distinguishes her from the other candidates, fellow centrist Elliott in particular, she mentioned that she’s the only currently nominated candidate for the party in the race.
Mulroney is amassing some impressive support within the party. Longtime party stalwart Rod Phillips, formerly chairman of Postmedia, ruled out a run Sunday evening and endorsed Mulroney. In a statement, he called her part of “a new generation of inclusive and accountable leadership.” But party grandees don’t win leadership campaigns — they certainly didn’t win it for Brown — and Mulroney will need much more compelling bait once Ford and Elliott find themselves ridings to contest. For some victory-focused party members imagining their next leader in a debate against very good campaigners in Andrea Horwath and Kathleen Wynne, Mulroney’s candidacy might be a big ask.
There have certainly been whirlwind rises to power in Canadian politics before. Bernard Lord became Premier of New Brunswick just two years after winning the Tory leadership and a year after entering the legislature, both on his first attempt. Brian Mulroney won the federal Tory leadership, his first seat in any legislature and the keys to 24 Sussex Drive in a matter of 15 months — but that was his second crack at the leadership; Caroline Mulroney wants to do it with her first, all in four months.
In short, the learning curves for Mulroney will be incredibly steep. That’s not to say she can’t navigate them in this strange race that’s more about making the best of what Patrick Brown left behind than proposing any revolutionary change. But she will need to fashion some kind of distinct identity, and it’s not clear at this point what that might be.
Like Elliott, Mulroney is skeptical of the carbon tax plan — “As a conservative I don’t like taxes,” she said, “and the carbon tax is a tax.” — and promised to consult members and candidates far and wide on the matter. Also like Elliott, she is welcoming all and sundry back under the big blue tent, including social conservatives whom Brown alienated. “The PC Party is a big tent party. People need to feel free to express their views,” she said. “As the party grows it gets more and more diverse, and that’s a good thing.”
She can’t be expected to have some kind of compelling manifesto ready to roll on Day One of her campaign. But the last day of her campaign is just a few short weeks away, her two opponents have plenty of name recognition, too, and they have more of a record in politics to back it up.
