Tory MPP Christine Elliott has taken the lead in the race to replace Tim Hudak as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, a Forum Research poll shows.

Elliott, the widow of former federal cabinet minister Jim Flaherty who was the first to declare her candidacy, tested the highest as the best person to lead the party after its devastating loss in the June 12 election, which handed the Liberals a majority government.

“We have identified Christine Elliott as the best leader for the PCs well before this,” said Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff stated, adding the Whitby-Oshawa MPP would be a “formidable” opponent to Premier Kathleen Wynne.

“She is a centrist candidate . . . that’s why she does well, because she can appeal to a broader spectrum,” he told the Star.

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Of 1,229 Ontario voters polled by Forum, 33 per cent said they would vote for the Tories if Elliott led the party, compared to other names being floated, including federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, 29 per cent, federal MP Patrick Brown from Barrie, 28 per cent and MPP Vic Fedeli (Nipissing), 28 per cent.

Other potential candidates who do not test as well include MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) and MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex), both with 26 per cent.

The party’s leadership convention is expected to be held next spring.

In the meantime, the Grits are consolidating their spring election win, garnering slightly more support in the random survey.

Forum said if another election was held today, four out of 10 would vote Liberal or 39 per cent, the Tories, 32 per cent or just slightly ahead of where the two parties finished in the June election. The NDP, on the other hand, has seen its vote share drop to 19 per cent from 24. Support for the Green Party grew to 8 per cent from 5 per cent.

Wynne’s approval rating jumped sharply to 46 per cent from the 36 per cent she received in the election, while NDP Leader Andrea Horwath also made somewhat of a comeback. Her approval rating climbed to 35 per cent from 25 per cent following the spring vote.

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Bozinoff said the Wynne government is still in the “honeymoon period,” aided and abetted by the fact the PCs only have an interim leader, MPP Jim Wilson.

The poll conducted on Aug. 20-21, has a margin of error plus or minus 3 per cent 19 times out of 20.

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