A Barrie MP says "Toronto elites" within the Ontario Progressive Conservative party are responsible for the turmoil that's developed after Patrick Brown's departure as leader.
During an impromptu news conference on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Alex Nuttall made a blunt statement about the party’s current state.
"According to my constituents, this was in fact an inside job that transpired over the past week."
“We had 28 elites whose ridings represent less than 1 per cent of the 200,000 members of the PC party of Ontario, try to appoint the next premier. Circumventing democracy. they did this without the moral authority that can only be granted by the membership of the PC party of Ontario," he said.
He's also accusing the same people of attempting to expel tens of thousands of party members.
"The conservative movement should never and can never define people by their race, by their faith, by what region of the world that they come from, by their first or last name."
On Tuesday, interim leader Vic Fedeli promised to, as he put it, "root out the rot" in the party.
"I am going to devote all my time exclusively now as interim leader to fix what I know needs to be fixed," Fedeli said.
On Wednesday, party executives insist they're playing fair.
"We are not a party of elites or an executive of elites. I can tell you that our executive gets elected and possibly re-elected every two or three years. We consult the membership. The membership votes us in or votes us out," says Justin Van Dette, regional VP for the party in Toronto.
Political expert Michael Johns says Nuttall's stance highlights a deep divide.
"On the one side you have the caucus who were elected in the last election under Tim Hudak and had mostly had supported Patrick Brown's opposition during the leadership campaign, and you had Patrick Brown and his people."
The provincial election is in June. Johns says the party needs to resolve its internal issues and show unity before Ontarians vote.
