TORONTO - The race for leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives has changed dramatically after former North Bay mayor Vic Fedeli dropped out and threw his support behind Christine Elliott.
Fedeli, the PC finance critic, says his campaign donations and membership sales just won't add up to a victory in the leadership contest, even though at $156,000 he is second in fundraising to Elliott's $515,000.
Elliott, the widow of former finance minister Jim Flaherty, says she and Fedeli believe that "fiscal responsibility and social compassion must go hand in hand."
But she rejects suggestions the race is splitting "Progressive" Conservatives from the more right-wing members in the party represented by rival candidates Patrick Brown and Monte McNaughton.
She says the party needs to come together to win the 2018 election, and it can't afford to be divided by "red Tory, blue Tory, social conservative (or) whatever."
Elliott, the MPP for Whitby-Oshawa, says Brown represents a different view of the PC party, and even though he took a shot at her in a recent debate, she's going to focus on a positive message for the future.
