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Many party members and other stakeholders don’t know about all of this. The truth is that Doug did not seek any media attention or publicity while helping out or expressing his views.

Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia News

Our party held a unity rally Monday night in Etobicoke. Over 2,000 people were reported to have attended. Candidates and caucus members from across Ontario stood firmly together. It was a beautiful display of a united, diverse party looking forward. The party will offer a new platform over the coming weeks. I expect that it will make fiscal conservatives and those worried about the economic health of our province proud. I expect the “media party” to keep criticizing him. But — and I never thought I’d be saying this — they will criticize any conservative leader, no matter his or her tone or policy priorities. Trust me. I have lived it.

Doug will appeal to voters in Toronto, where I now live, and in Mississauga, where I grew up. He will appeal to voters in temples and mosques in Brampton and Scarborough and he will appeal to voters in union halls in Windsor and Sault Ste. Marie. He will appeal to mothers in Vaughan and families in Ottawa. People want a decent life, not political platitudes. Doug, uniquely, gets this.

Running a political party in our system is not easy. Doug will have many difficult decisions to make over the coming weeks leading up to the election. But I fully expect Ontario will have its premier-elect in Doug Ford on June 7 and anyone who found themselves drawn to the PC party over the past three years under Patrick Brown should join me in celebrating that evening with our new leader.

Walied Soliman served as chair of the Ontario PC party election campaign until earlier this year.