Letter writer Jim Karahalios had a long-standing battle with former PC Party leader Patrick Brown.
Dear Doug,
Congratulations on your hard fought victory in the Ontario PC Party leadership race. It was a sprint to the finish.
Before we were thrust into a leadership race, the Axe the Carbon Tax and Take Back Our PC Party campaigns were largely dismissed by the party apparatus and even some in the media. But it was the issues from these campaigns that dominated the narrative of the PC leadership campaign.
From the beginning of your leadership campaign, you declared (and have continued to say) that you would “Axe the Carbon Tax.” Thank you for championing this cause and for the commitments you made in our six question survey.
I would ask that you consider, when time permits, fulfilling one of those commitments – to withdraw Patrick Brown’s letter to Justin Trudeau dated October 13, 2016, which congratulated Trudeau on his plans to usurp provincial jurisdiction and impose a federally mandated “carbon price.” I know it would mean a lot to the supporters of Axe the Carbon Tax.
I was also honoured to see you champion the cause of grassroots party members during your leadership campaign. You embraced the ideas and solutions put forward by the Take Back Our PC Party campaign with regards to ensuring that all PC nominations are done in an “open, public, and democratic” fashion, in accordance with the party constitution. I read that the party is now undertaking a review of all nominations. I also read that the party’s Nomination Committee has announced that Patrick Brown will not be a PC candidate in the next election (as I previously wrote), and that the results of four more nominations have been overturned in Brampton North, Newmarket-Aurora, Mississauga Centre, and Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas. This is a great step in righting the wrongs with regards to governance in our Ontario PC Party.
The events of the last few months have proven that grassroots campaigns and democracy matter. The judicial decision dismissing the lawsuit against me, and the injunction filed by party members the day before the leadership convention, both affirm that the PC Party constitution is a binding document that unites our party members – politically and legally.
I am happy to see you were on the right side of these issues. I trust in your conviction to continue being a champion for the grassroots and to continue to “pound the ball.”
On a personal note, I wanted to thank you for calling for my party membership to be reinstated during your leadership campaign. I was happy to hear that in the first PC executive meeting after your victory the question of my membership made it on the agenda and I was retroactively reinstated. I know voters always look favourably upon politicians who keep their promises.
Our Ontario PC Party has been through a lot in these last few months. But the energy created from the leadership race provides you with an opportunity to defeat Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government and be the first PC premier in Ontario in 15 years.
My wife and I look forward to attending the PC Unity Rally on Monday.
All the best!
Jim Karahalios
