Article content

André Marin went into the byelection in Ottawa-Vanier on Thursday expecting to win. The party’s internal numbers showed a close race.

As it turned out, the Liberals won with a hefty 19-point margin in the polls, though the PCs did show their best results in the riding in 50 years.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Social conservatives a 'threat' to Ontario PCs, says André Marin after byelection loss Back to video

Speaking after the loss, Marin was blunt in his outlook for the party. He declared that social conservatives need to be put “in their place” by PC leader Patrick Brown, as they constitute “a threat to the party.”

“If they start calling some of the shots, I think you’ll see a very fast erosion in the popularity of the Progressive Conservative party,” Marin said.

The comments carry particular weight given the other byelection that took place on Thursday in Niagara-West Glanbrook. That’s where 19-year-old university student Sam Oosterhoff swiped the nomination from PC party president Rick Dykstra. Oosterhoff, who won the byelection easily in the safe PC riding, is an avowedly pro-life candidate backed by the anti-sex-ed movement.

Marin also addressed a mini-scandal during the campaign that the Liberals took full advantage of: A tweet sent out by PC party staff that included his campaign manager declaring her support for Donald Trump. The tweet was hastily deleted, but the Liberals mailed a screenshot of it to homes in the riding.

“In this byelection, it’s time to send a message,” the bilingual Liberal mail-out said. “We are a progressive, inclusive community. And what happened in the U.S. will not happen here.”

Marin said he didn’t even know the tweet had been posted before it was deleted.

“I’m the most anti-Trump person you can possibly find,” Marin said. “I think that scared a lot of people, unfortunately.”