An upstart backbench MP is gaining momentum in the leadership race of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, racking up strong membership sales and winning the support of hockey great Wayne Gretzky.

Patrick Brown, 36, a three-term Conservative MP from Barrie, was not considered a serious contender when he announced his candidacy in November.

But his strong membership sales – he has signed up 41,000 members, compared with the 34,000 claimed by front-runner Christine Elliott, the MPP for Whitby-Oshawa and the party establishment favourite – have made people suddenly take notice. London area MPP Monte McNaughton is also in the race.

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Two weeks ago, Mr. Brown – who has a fridge full of Red Bull in his Parliament Hill office, but says he drinks only one a day – raised more than $100,000 at a Toronto fundraiser where former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest was the keynote speaker. Mr. Brown says he was calling in a favour; he supported Mr. Charest's 1993 bid to become the federal leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. (Mr. Charest told The Globe and Mail he is not taking sides and has offered to play host at a similar event for Ms. Elliott.)

Mr. Brown, meanwhile, did the same with Mr. Gretzky. He has helped raise money for Mr. Gretzky's foundation and the legendary hockey player endorsed Mr. Brown's candidacy, saying he has "the passion and vision to lead Ontario."

In addition to leveraging his party and hockey connections, he is emulating the federal Conservatives' winning strategy of reaching out to ethnic communities.

"I certainly see value in what the federal Conservatives have done in terms of cultural engagement," Mr. Brown said.

As co-chair of the Canada-India Interparliamentary Friendship Group, he has visited India 15 times since 2007 and become close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he first met when he was the chief minister for Gujarat, a state in western India.

These connections – he says he has also attracted support from the Tamil community – are helping his bid as the anti-party establishment candidate. "I was guest speaker at Gujarat events where there were 2,000 [people] or Tamil events where there were 10,000 [people]," he says. "We wouldn't see anyone else. We felt very much the playing field was left to us uncontested."

Membership sales are now closed and the party says about 80,000 members will be eligible to vote in the May ballot. That is 70,000 more than when the leadership process began to replace Tim Hudak, the leader since 2009, who lost the last two elections.

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Mr. Brown calls himself a "pragmatic" Conservative, focusing on job creation and rebuilding the party. But there are concerns he might be too socially conservative, especially given that MPP Rick Nicholls, one of the honorary chairs of his draft campaign, recently announced he didn't believe in evolution.

"I totally support the theory of evolution," Mr. Brown said, pointedly adding that Mr. Nicholls does not have a position on "my current campaign."

Mr. Brown, meanwhile, has some provincial caucus support, but the majority – 17 of 28 PC MPPs – are supporting Ms. Elliott. In the federal caucus, 25 of the 71 Ontario MPs, including five ministers, are also on board with her.

Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt is one of them. She says Ms. Elliott is "not distracted by issues that are not a priority for our province and is sensitive enough to know how to debate an issue and not make it personal."

Last week, Ms. Elliott, who is the widow of former federal finance minister Jim Flaherty, launched her economic platform, vowing to reduce the provincial corporate tax rate to 10 per cent over a three-year period if she forms government. The current rate is 11.5 per cent. John Capobianco, co-chair of her campaign, describes this as her signature policy plank. Mr. Brown says he won't get into specifics about tax changes until he consults the party grassroots.

The contest, he says, is not all about who sells the most memberships, but who can get out the vote. That takes organization and, most importantly, money.

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The Elliott team will spend the campaign limit of $1.2-million; it has already raised more than $800,000. Mr. Brown's team has also said it will spend the limit. His campaign said last month it had $197,000 in campaign contributions.

The leadership contest is a weighted system. Each candidate wins a certain number of points, out of 100, for the support he or she gains in each of the 107 ridings.

"If your membership is concentrated in a few ridings it doesn't necessarily spell victory for you," said Mr. Capobianco, who was co-chair of former Ontario MPP Frank Klees's 2009 leadership campaign. "We sold the most memberships but came in second because a lot of the Tim Hudak support was much more broadly based across the province."

Mr. Brown isn't worried: "I think that an organization that signs up 40,000 members … is obviously a superior organization."