Christine Elliott, Flaherty’s widow, to make bid to lead Ontario Tories: sources

Christine Elliott currently sits as the Member of Provincial Parliament for the riding of Whitby-Oshawa, which she has held since 2006. Photo courtesy of Elliott’s Facebook page.

TORONTO — Sources say the widow of former federal finance minister Jim Flaherty plans to take another shot at leading Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives.

Christine Elliott is expected to announce today that she’s entering the race to succeed Tim Hudak, who will be stepping down as PC leader when the legislature returns on July 2.

A spokeswoman told The Canadian Press she couldn’t confirm Elliott would be making a leadership bid, but said she’d make an announcement “regarding her future and the future of the party.

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Elliott finished third when Hudak won the Tory leadership race in 2009. Flaherty had failed in his 2002 and 2004 bids to lead the Ontario Tories.

Elliott’s name was put forward as a possible favourite after Hudak announced he was stepping down following the crushing defeat of his party in the June 12 election.

Elliott is deputy leader of the party and has served as critic for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Mental Health Reform.

There could be a crowded field in the running to take Hudak’s job.

Tory MPP and labour critic Monte McNaughton said he is also “seriously” considering a run for the leadership.

“I’ve spent every day since the election making calls to party activists across the province and to caucus members,” he told The Canadian Press.

“I really am overwhelmed and humbled by the support that I’ve been receiving across Ontario.”

Tory energy critic Lisa MacLeod, who once worked for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, appears to be testing the waters, penning a column in the Toronto Star calling for a new leader “who understands urban, suburban and rural concerns.”

Her Ottawa riding of Nepean-Carleton “is a microcosm of the growing and changing Ontario that our party must represent,” she wrote Tuesday.

There’s also a campaign underway by some party activists to draft federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt into the race.

Other names mentioned as possible candidates include Tory MPP and finance critic Vic Fedeli, as well as party president Richard Ciano.

Educated as a lawyer, Elliott entered politics when she won a seat in Whitby, east of Toronto, in the March 2006 byelection.

During the 2009 leadership race, Elliott preached fiscal conservatism and social responsibility — very different from Flaherty who during his 2002 leadership bid proposed jailing the homeless.

Following the June 12 election, Elliott said it was “a combination of things” that drove voters from the PCs to the Liberals.

“We ran a principled campaign and I’m very proud, (but) it just wasn’t meant to be,” she said.