Like father, like daughter? Brian Mulroney says parliamentary experience not necessary
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It’s “goofy” to suggest Caroline Mulroney needs parliamentary experience to do a good job as the next leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, her dad says.
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney noted that like his daughter, he was equipped with only private sector experience and vision when he went up against, and defeated, candidates who had previously held political office.
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“Guess what experience has gotten you at Queen’s Park?” Mulroney said. “The premier has been around for 15 years. The deficit has tripled. Your debt is over $300 billion. Service of the debt is the third largest item on your budget.
“This is what political experience has gotten you – time for something new, something new and something fresh,” Mulroney said, echoing his daughter’s leadership campaign slogan.
The former prime minister was speaking in the provincial riding of Ajax Monday in support of local PC candidate and former Postmedia chair Rod Phillips, who he said would bring strong business and civic experience to the role of MPP.
Mulroney bemoaned what he described as Ontario’s descent under the Liberal government from a province that was once the “happy giant of Confederation” to one that now relies on other provinces like Newfoundland for equalization payments.
While all the PC leadership candidates have said that Ontario is in poor fiscal shape, opponents Christine Elliott and Doug Ford have made a lot of their experience in public office as an antidote, in contrast to Caroline Mulroney’s recent arrival from the field of investment banking.
“That’s goofy stuff,” Mulroney’s dad said. “I had no political experience and look what happened. I won the two largest back-to-back majorities since Sir. John A. MacDonald …. You need vision and courage and brains — and she’s got all of that.”
Ontario PC Party members are currently voting for the next leader of the party, scheduled to be announced Saturday.
aartuso@postmedia.com
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