OTTAWA—Ten months after winning the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives, Patrick Brown will put a bigger stamp on the party this weekend. About 1,600 members from across the province are expected ‎at the PC annual meeting, where they will begin work on a “grassroots” platform for the 2018 election after four consecutive losses to the scandal-prone Liberals, including a 2014 rout.

Finding his feet: Progressive Conservative Party Leader Patrick Brown asks his first question in the legislature. Brown wants to put his imprimatur on the party after what was a divisive leadership campaign. ( Richard Brennan / Toronto Star file photo )

Tories hope to put a fresh face on the party with a “re-branding” effort to be unveiled Saturday and Brown will signal his own policy priorities in an evening speech. But several sources said the party will also have to move past simmering tensions between the leader’s office and some MPPs in the wake of the leadership race in which a majority of caucus supported Christine Elliott, who resigned her Whitby-Oshawa seat in August. “The party’s trying to settle down and find itself,” said former Cambridge Tory MPP Rob Leone, now an assistant professor of political science at Western University in London.

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“When push comes to shove, the party has to realize the infighting isn’t going to help them. They need to find a common thread and a way to beat the Liberals.” Brown flatly dismisses talk of a rift between Ottawa-area MPPs Lisa MacLeod, the party’s only urban female caucus member, and Jack MacLaren, who has been sussing out potential challengers for her nomination, many sources have told the Star. Brown flatly dismisses talk of a rift between Ottawa-area MPPs Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton), the party’s only urban female caucus member, and Jack MacLaren (Carleton-Mississippi Mills), who has been sussing out MacLeod’s riding on behalf of potential challengers to her nomination in the 2018 election, many sources have told the Star. “As far as I know that’s not the case,” Brown said, throwing his support behind MacLeod, who accompanied him on a January trip to India, where the two were photographed riding an elephant. “Lisa has my full support as party leader and I’m endorsing her re-nomination,” Brown added. “I think she’s an asset.”

He promised a bottom-up policy process driven by members in hopes of avoiding another campaign debacle such as former leader Tim Hudak’s unpopular promise to cut 100,000 public sector positions. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Brown needs to do a better job of defining himself for voters given the lack of firm policies, which will take a year or two to flesh out.

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“At this point in time, nobody really knows anything about Patrick Brown, what his intentions are or where he’s headed,” said Horwath, who has led the New Democrats since 2009. Leone warned of a continuing danger that the Liberals will define Brown — a backbench Conservative MP for Barrie ‎under former prime minister Stephen Harper for nine years — before his own party and platform do. The Liberals show every intention of doing so. “Despite Mr. Brown saying that he’s taking a very moderate approach, when you look at the facts, he’s surrounding himself with all his old Harper friends,” said Liberal MPP Marie-France Lalonde (Ottawa-Orleans). She was referring mainly to Rick Dykstra, the defeated St. Catharines Conservative MP who will be acclaimed PC president on Sunday. There will be other federal overtones at the convention as at least one potential Conservative leadership candidate, Muskoka MP Tony Clement, will host a hospitality suite at a downtown hotel where hundreds of delegates are staying.

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