Batter Up: Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown steps up to the plate!

You might think this would be all about baseball, and its true it could be as the baseball season winds down and the Toronto Blue Jays are in the middle of a pennant race, but it is not. It’s a matter of getting your attention to an event that is taking place Monday September 14th, the opening of the fall session of the Ontario legislature at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

That day marks a major milestone in the ascendance of Patrick Brown to the leadership on the Ontario PC Party.  He will be sworn in as the MPP for Simcoe North earlier in the morning and will follow that up by being escorted into the house to take his seat as the Leader of the Opposition.  For many it is a day that we have been waiting to see.  I’ve anticipated this day since September 2014 when I officially backed Patrick in his bid to become the leader of our party.  Others have been waiting since May 9th when he won the Ontario PC Leadership and for others they have been waiting for this moment since September 3rd when Patrick won the Simcoe North by election.

On the first day of the fall session Patrick will not only be the starting pitcher, throwing fastballs at Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberals but hitting the ball out of the park with the help of a team solidly behind him.  Its going to be exciting to see his team that includes former leadership contestants, Lisa MacLeod, Vic Fedeli and Monte McNaughton call to account the Wynne government on the handling of increasing hydro rate, the downgrading of our credit rating and the mishandling and under consultation of the new health education curriculum.

I can’t over state the importance of Patrick Brown sitting in house, that being said, what is as important is the new opposition shadow cabinet Patrick announced this week.  The Ontario PC Party has a team that will hold government Ministers to account and will start to build ideas that will attract positive attention to the Ontario PC Party as the next government in June 2018. 

Watching this team through the fall session will be exciting, not only in Queens Park but also through the province as Patrick and MPP’s tour Ontario listening to Ontarians and party members and begin the march to June 2018.