He didn’t win the most votes. He has almost no support in caucus. He doesn’t have a seat in the legislature. But after a disputed result, Doug Ford has become the leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party.
Now, the man best known to the rest of Canada as Rob Ford’s brother, has to prepare to lead his fractured party into the upcoming Ontario election.
As Paula Simons points out in this video essay, Albertans have a lot of experience with these sorts of PC leadership upsets. Ed Stelmach an Alison Redford weren’t the candidates favoured by the party brass. They weren’t supposed to win, and both were pushed out. Jim Prentice was the outsider who arrived to save the party, and ended up killing it.
Which leads to Paula’s question. Is it time for Canada’s political parties to reconsider the way they pick their leaders — especially when they have to choose in a hurry?
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