AJAX—The Progressive Conservatives are aggressively setting their sights on the Greater Toronto Area ridings that have kept the Liberals in government since 2003.

Tory Leader Patrick Brown signalled Wednesday night that his “modern, inclusive and pragmatic” party is ready to make inroads throughout the GTA in the June 7, 2018 election.

“There’s something special happening out there,” said Brown as he touted prominent corporate and community leader Rod Phillips as the party’s candidate in Liberal-held Ajax.

“Under the Liberals, families are working harder, paying more, and getting less. It’s time for a change. I know Rod would be a strong voice for Ajax families at Queen’s Park,” he told 400 cheering Tories at a local golf and curling club.

Brown pointed out Phillips’ nomination was only the second he has attended — the other was Caroline Mulroney’s in York-Simcoe earlier this fall. Mulroney is the Tories’ other big-name nominee.

Former PC MPP Janet Ecker noted “this crowd really tells you something” about the excitement surrounding Phillips’ candidacy.

“The last time we had a crowd like this here was in 1995 when Mike Harris’s bus pulled in,” said Ecker, who was minister of education, social services, and finance under premiers Harris and Ernie Eves.

Phillips, the departing chairperson of the Postmedia newspaper chain and former head of Ontario Lottery and Gaming, is seen as a potential finance minister in a Brown government.

The 52-year-old former chairperson of the CivicAction community organization, is running against veteran Liberal backbencher Joe Dickson, 77, who won more than 50 per cent of the vote in 2014.

“I’m not going to attack the premier personally,” said Phillips, noting he worked closely with Premier Kathleen Wynne when he was running Ontario’s gambling agency and joking that he’s “pretty sure I still have her cell number here on my phone.”

“I think she got into politics for the right reason and there is no question she works hard at it,” he said.

“But the thing you have to understand about this premier is that she is absolutely convinced that every decision she has made is right. Not just right but righteous.”

As a one-time chief of staff to former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman, Phillips gives Brown additional credibility on GTA issues.