Progressive Conservative activists are deeply troubled about the potential candidacy of Doug Ford and the party’s controversial “right-to-work” proposal.

In a one-hour conference call of 300 PC riding association officials Wednesday night, party brass were peppered with questions on the anti-union policy as well as Ford’s interest in being the PC nominee in Etobicoke North.

Tory members invited the Star to monitor the conference call, which was chaired by PC president Richard Ciano and involved participants from Ontario’s 107 electoral districts.

Contacted Thursday, Ciano would say only: “This was a telephone town hall for riding association presidents and party members and that’s what the content was geared to.”

One riding executive from northern Ontario praised PC Leader Tim Hudak’s plan to create 1 million new jobs over the next year, but was uneasy about anti-union measures the party is touting.

“I hear lots of confusion about the ‘right-to-work’ policy. Can you help explain it to folks I talk to?” he said.

Ciano told him it was “put in place in one of the ‘white papers’ ” the party has prepared and was endorsed at a policy convention last summer.

That did not satisfy everyone on the line.

“Is ‘right-to-work’ party policy or not?” wondered one PC member about plans to scrap the Rand Formula, which requires all workers in a unionized workplace to pay dues regardless of whether they choose to join the union.

Another was curious about how candidates should respond while campaigning.

“When we’re asked about right-to-work, what are they supposed to say?”

The Tory also wanted to know if Essex PC candidate Dave Brister was dumped Tuesday after voicing his opposition to the proposal on Twitter.

PC Party spokesman Alan Sakach patiently told those on the call that a campaign platform was being finalized.

“As the leader has stated, we are modernizing our labour laws,” he said, emphasizing “what happened in Essex has nothing to do with the policy.”

Sakach said Brister was dismissed for deriding MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex), the PC labour critic, on social media.

“It is unacceptable for a nominated candidate to attack one of our MPPs on Twitter,” he said.

In an interview Thursday, Sakach echoed what he had told the party faithful the night before.

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“There’s really nothing new that was discussed,” he said.

Another hot topic was the possible candidacy of Mayor Rob Ford’s brother, Doug, a rookie councillor who has repeatedly expressed interest in running for the Tories in Etobicoke North.

With a provincial election expected as early as this spring and the Ford brothers remaining in the headlines because of the mayor’s erratic behaviour, PC members are getting antsy.

“It seems this rumour he will run for us has been around forever,” fumed one exasperated riding association member about the outspoken councillor.

“Either he’s our candidate and we have to take responsibility for what he says, or he’s not and we can move on.”

Ciano, who told the caller he would recuse himself from anything to do with Ford’s candidacy due to his work on the mayor’s 2010 campaign, stressed “Doug Ford has not committed a request to be a candidate for the Ontario PC Party.”

“The riding association has not triggered a nomination meeting and it’s up to them to do so.”

Party insiders confide it is highly unlikely Ford will be the Tory standard-bearer against veteran Etobicoke North Liberal MPP Shafiq Qaadri.

Hudak and the councillor are not close and the mayor’s crack cocaine use and public impairment — including on a bizarre new video this week of him disparaging Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair in an inexplicable Jamaican accent — make the Fords politically radioactive to the Conservatives.

However, because the Tories boast of running the most open and democratic nomination meetings of all the major parties, it can be difficult for the leadership to thwart an unwanted candidate.

The Fords have a long history with the PC Party; the family’s late patriarch, Doug Sr., was an MPP in the old riding of Etobicoke—Humber from 1995 to 1999. After redistribution reduced the number of ridings, he lost his nomination bid to carry the Tory banner in the new riding of Etobicoke Centre to Chris Stockwell.

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