PC Leader Doug Ford said he hated appointing 11 candidates to fill the remaining vacancies in ridings across the province, but blamed a short timeline and the “mess” his predecessor left behind.

“We inherited a total mess in this leadership,” Ford told reporters Monday morning at a campaign stop in the Caledon area.

“When we took over we had to fill 28 ridings and the runway is running short right now. There’s no one who hates appointing people more than I do. But out of 28 we were able to have 17 nominations.

“If we continue on with the other 11, it would have taken us right into almost election day.”

Ford took the unusual step of naming candidates to run in the June 7 election in those 11 ridings, including Mike Harris Jr. in Kitchener-Conestoga — son of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris — who recently lost the nomination battle in the neighbouring Waterloo riding.

Ford’s late father was a PC MPP in the Harris government.

The appointments have caused some controversy among potential candidates who were caught off guard by the move, as well other party veterans.

Former leader Patrick Brown had come under fire for interfering in local nominations, noted former Mike Harris-era cabinet minister Brad Clark.

“Didn’t Mr. Ford object to Brown and the elites interfering with the democratic process?” Clark tweeted.

“A NEW leader can’t say that you’re going to return the party to the grassroots and promptly make this kind of decision. #duplicity.”

London West candidate Jake Skinner also took to social media, saying the move “marks a sad day for the grassroots of our Ontario PC Party ... nominations should be earned, not bestowed.”

At Queen’s Park, Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi said “obviously they have stymied the democratic process within their own party ... (they are) putting forward candidates that do no reflect the local communities.”

New Democrat Peter Tabuns said his party “has contested nominations” only, and said Ford’s move “doesn’t strike me as a rational decision.

“It’s always a bad idea,” the Toronto-Danforth MPP also told reporters.

The Liberals, under their party rules, are only able to make five appointments across the province, with all others competing in local nomination contests.

“Let me emphasize: I hate, hate appointing people and unfortunately, the mess that we were handed to us from the previous leadership, was quite the disaster to be frank with you,” Ford also said Monday.

PC finance critic Vic Fedeli told reporters the appointments were necessary “with 45 days to the election ... this is an opportunity to get our boots on the ground.”

Meanwhile, Liberal campaign co-chair Deb Matthews said she was appalled Ford has allowed Tanya Granic Allen to run in Mississauga Centre, given her comments and blog posts about Muslims and the gay community.

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Granic Allen won the nomination on the weekend.

“This is a woman with a clear history of Islamophobic remarks, homophobic remarks,” she said at Queen’s Park. “This is a woman who is espousing values that are reprehensible — reprehensible — who would never be allowed in the Liberal party to run.”

Naqvi said if Granic Allen were ever to be part of a PC government, “that is taking Ontario back ... to take a stance against the vibrant Muslim community, the contributions of the LGBT community and most important, denying women’s right to choose, is an extremely troubling path to me, and to the premier and to our government.”

With files from Robert Benzie

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