AJAX—Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford talked about cutting red tape for business as he revved up supporters at a campaign office opening in Ajax on Saturday.

“There’s no reason why we can’t have the manufacturing jobs back,” Ford told a cheering crowd at the office opening for Rod Phillips, the PC candidate in the redrawn riding of Ajax.

Ford said 333,000 manufacturing jobs have left Ontario, and that as premier, he could attract investment by cutting red tape.

“When I talk to owners of companies, no matter if it’s small or large, the number one issue is all the bureaucracy and red tape and regulation that they have to face,” he said, adding that businesses “have to make sure that we don’t have a carbon tax, they have to make sure that we’re competitive when it comes to hydro rates.”

Phillips, who is former chairman of Postmedia and former president and CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, is looking to unseat current Ajax-Pickering Liberal MPP Joe Dickson, who has held the seat since 2007.

“People are ready for a change from Kathleen Wynne and Joe Dickson,” he says. “Hydro rates are too high, taxes are too high … the cost of living in Ajax is too high.

Phillips has been part of the PC party for 30 years, and says he is impressed with how quickly the party came together after Ford’s win.

“It’s the fastest I’ve ever seen he team come back together …” he says adding that former leader Patrick Brown’s resignation amidst sexual misconduct allegations could have been “very destructive for the party, but ended up being very unifying.”

Ajax resident Jim Honchar stopped by the rally primarily to see Ford, who he describes as “a force to be reckoned with.”

The local retiree is a longtime PC supporter and says he feels optimistic about his party’s chances in Ajax for the first time in years.

“I think there’s more hope now that (Ford) is the leader. He’s someone who can get things done,” Honchar said, adding that hydro rates and health care are the election issues most important to him.

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Also on hand at the Ajax event March 24, were two of the three candidates Ford beat in the party leadership race, Caroline Mulroney and Christine Elliott.

Elliott, a former Whitby-Oshawa MPP, says she is planning to run in the provincial election but hasn’t determined which riding yet — although she confirmed it won’t be in Durham.

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After the Ajax office opening, Ford headed to Oshawa for a rally at the Canadian Army Corps Association.

The Ontario provincial election is June 7.

Doug Ford visited the Ontario legislature on March 12 for the first time since becoming leader of the province’s Progressive Conservatives. Ford says he plans to be “out on the road” as much as possible before the June 7 election. (The Canadian Press)

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