THUNDER BAY – An early push to nominate Progressive Conservative candidates in Ontario ridings isn’t a sign of an early election strategy, party leaders say.
The Toronto Star first reported all of the party’s incumbent MPPs would be nominated as candidates for the next election by Saturday, while they were aiming to have candidates in ridings held by other parties nominated by March.
The next provincial election is scheduled for June of 2022, though Premier Doug Ford’s majority government could trigger an election sooner. Ford has recently stated he will not do so.
Minister of Energy, Mines, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford was acclaimed as the party’s candidate in Kenora-Rainy River in a virtual meeting Saturday afternoon.
Riding association president Tannis Drysdale said the timing of nominations “tend to vary,” especially for incumbents like Rickford. Saturday’s meeting was advertised to members months ago, she added.
Drysdale declined comment on the possibility of an early election, saying that was a decision for the Premier and the province’s Lieutenant Governor.
In the NDP-held Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding, PC riding association president Brandon Postuma, who ran for the party in the 2018 election, acknowledged it was an unusually early start for nominations.
He confirmed the party was seeking to finalize nominations in his riding by the spring. However, he believed the timing was more about giving candidates a head start in the 2022 election.
“We’re starting before everyone,” he said. “We never left election mode.”
The early start would allow campaigns to raise more money and knock on more doors, he said.
Postuma had asked party officials about the prospect of an early election.
“They said, ‘no way,’” he reported over the phone Saturday.
Derek Parks, a former PC candidate in Thunder Bay-Superior North and a regional vice-president on the party's executive, agreed an early election wasn't in the cards.
"Who wants an election in a pandemic when it's not needed?" he asked.
He called the early nominations "more of a housekeeping step," saying the earlier start could be beneficial for candidates. He has not ruled out running for the TBSN nomination again.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell said she was aware of rumours of a potential early election call. She pointed to Ford’s rising approval rating and the uncertainty of the next two years as possible motivations for such a move.
However, she said the timing of the nominations was only slightly earlier than usual – the NDP’s own incumbents would hold nomination meetings later this fall, she said.
“It’s not really that far out,” she said. “It’s slightly early.”
The first-time MPP was more concerned about the message sent by the early nominations.
With Ontario staring down what she called a likely second wave of COVID-19 infections, she found it disappointing to see the governing party’s focus on the next election rather than confronting today’s challenges.
