Doug Ford wants to run for the Progressive Conservative leadership to “clean up the mess” after the stunning resignations of leader Patrick Brown and party president Rick Dykstra.

The runner-up to John Tory in the 2014 Toronto mayoral race gathered reporters in his mother’s Etobicoke basement Monday to announce his intentions.

“Make no mistake about it, the elites of this party — the ones who have shut out the grassroots — do not want me in this race. But I’m here to give you a voice,” he thundered.

Even though Brown’s Conservatives were reserving the riding of Etobicoke North for him to run for them in the June 7 election, Ford had preferred to take another run at Tory in the fall mayoral vote.

All of that changed with the departure of Brown early Thursday after he was accused of sexual impropriety with two women when they were teens.

Ford — whose late younger brother, Rob Ford, was embroiled in a crack-smoking scandal that made headlines around the world during his tumultuous tenure as mayor from 2010 until 2014 — pounced on the opportunity.

“Right now this party needs strong leadership. Someone who’s ready to clean up the mess and lead us into the June election,” said the former one-term Toronto councillor.

“I had every intention of running for mayor of this great city, but I can’t watch the party I love fall into the hands of the elites. The elites have shut the door on the grassroots, the foundation of our party,” he said.

“This is truly a critical moment for our party. We cannot have a strong Ontario without a strong Progressive Conservative party.”

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The first would-be leadership rival to stare down Ford was Rod Phillips, the PC candidate in Ajax and former head of CivicAction and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

“I’m not sure what Doug Ford means when he says ‘party elites.’ I come from a middle-class family in Newmarket. My father was a salesman and my mother was a bookkeeper,” said Phillips, a self-made millionaire who also chaired Postmedia.

That was a shot at Ford, who inherited his wealth from his late father, Doug Ford Sr., who left his children the family label business.

Caroline Mulroney, another rumoured leadership candidate who has attracted support from some veteran party insiders, continued to refuse comment.

The York-Simcoe PC candidate — a lawyer and the daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney — has not spoken with the media since Brown’s departure Thursday.

While Ford plans to hold a rally Saturday night at the Toronto Congress Centre, it remains to be seen whether there will actually be a Conservative leadership contest.

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The PC executive will meet again this week amid a push for some sober second thought on the wisdom of holding a race with the party in disarray and a spring provincial election looming.

Richard Ciano, the past president, said the Tories are in no shape to hold a leadership election with a province-wide campaign 100 days away.

“This idea that all of the problems in the party started when the revelations about Patrick Brown came out is just not the case,” said Ciano, who has been leading the push to keep Vic Fedeli as interim leader through the election.

“There’s very serious issues and problems and concerns around membership fraud, around fraudulent nomination meetings and around a whole host of issues that border really on corruption,” he said.

Indeed, the party’s internal CIMS database — the Constituent Information Management System — was hacked several months ago and Tories are concerned about the impact of that apparent security breach from China.

Against such a chaotic backdrop, the party’s leadership executive organizing committee will deliver draft rules to the PC executive on Wednesday.

In the 2015 leadership won by Brown there was a $75,000 entry fee plus a $25,000 deposit to the party, so any candidate would likely have to come up with $100,000 just to enter.

If there is a contest, it would be expected to conclude March 24 with a $300,000 spending limit for candidates.

But provincial fundraising laws have been tightened since 2015 with corporate and union contributions banned and donation limits capped at $1,200 per person.

The Tories are still coping with a slew of controversies, including the resignation of Dykstra, who quit Sunday night two hours before Maclean’s posted a story alleging a young federal Conservative staffer was sexually assaulted in his apartment in 2014 after a night of drinking.

Police told Maclean’s they stopped their investigation at her request and the allegations have not been proven in court.

The former MP was not available for comment.

Early last Thursday, Brown quit after CTV revealed alleged sexual impropriety involving two women when they were teens and he was a Conservative MP.

With fles fom David Rider

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