Formerly vying for the local Ontario PC candidacy, Thomas Mooney says he will be on the ballot for June’s election under the recently-created Ontario Alliance party.
Mooney made a public break up with the local riding association in August, after seeing what he called ‘unsettling occupancies’ across the province in various riding nominations made by the party, then under Patrick Brown.
Reached by phone Monday, Mooney said he feels the fallout from those nominations and other occurrences, including allegations of sexual misconduct, prove to him that his gut feeling was correct.
“Everything you are starting to see come out and what has been coming out the last few months, that’s all stuff I was seeing. I have a certain belief of what a representative is supposed to stand for, and I think everyone in Ontario has that belief of respect for that position,” said Mooney.
A ‘small c’ conservative all of his life, Mooney said seeing what former interim leader Vic Fedeli called 'rot' in the Progressive Conservative party really upset him.
“It took a lot of the wind out of my sails because I couldn’t, in good faith, be going door to door talking to people and saying one thing out of my mouth, knowing the opposite was going to happen,” said Mooney.
After making it known he no longer wished to seek the Ontario PC nomination, Mooney said he was no longer interested in pursuing politics, but said the upcoming election is so important he was compelled to run for the Ontario Alliance.
“Politics was never a career choice of mine, but it’s one of those things that has to be done,” said Mooney. “I started getting the feeling that somebody has to, so why not me?”
Last week, Mooney received word from the Ontario Alliance that he has been accepted to stand for election in Guelph for the 2018 provincial election.
Among the benefits of the Ontario Alliance, said Mooney, is that votes are not whipped — meaning members can vote in the best interest of their riding, not simply toeing the party line.
“Knowing full well going in as a PC, that I am being elected by the people here in Guelph and as soon as I get elected I have to relinquish that command to somebody else in another city that runs the entire party — there you lose your true representation. Your voice is gone,” said Mooney.
The Ontario Alliance seeks to flip representation on its head, said Mooney, land limiting the power of the provincial government to give municipalities more power in driving policy that works for their region.
“Our needs here in Guelph are different than the needs in Owen Sound or Timmins. By electing a party that has the toed party line, that has the cookie cutter type of ideas, you’re not going to get what you actually need,” said Mooney.
The Ontario Alliance became a registered political party in Ontario in the fall under the leadership of party co-founder Jay Tysick, who was himself once a former Ontario PC candidate hopeful, but disqualified to run in his riding by then-leader Patrick Brown.
In the party’s declaration of principles, it recognizes the ‘natural family’ as the basic building block of a free and democratic society and the place where healthy and responsible citizens are formed.
‘We believe in honouring parents and respecting the common-sense values they choose to live and raise their children by’ says the declaration.
Mooney said he is interested in having a close look at the family court system in Ontario, which he said is letting families down.
“(It’s) tearing our children from homes and we don’t have the support to properly focus on these things. The children are our future, and that is important to me,” said Mooney of the current system
Mooney said representing Guelph under the Alliance, he would be free to take all of the good ideas to the table at Queen’s Park.
“With everyone’s input, that’s how we bring Ontario back,” said Mooney.
