TORONTO -- The newly appointed interim leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives vowed Tuesday to clean up the party, "root out the rot" and ensure a fair leadership contest following the resignation of top leaders amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Vic Fedeli, who was appointed to his post last week following Patrick Brown's departure, said he needed to focus on internal issues ahead of a spring election and would not be making a bid to be permanent leader as initially planned.
"I have always believed we must put team before self. As such, I will work exclusively as interim leader to the party," Fedeli said. "It's time to put the party and the province ahead of any one person's personal ambitions."
The party has been in turmoil since last week when Brown resigned after vehemently denying sexual misconduct allegations reported by CTV News. The allegations have not been independently verified by The Canadian Press.
In October, Brown boasted of growing the party's base to 127,000 members from about 10,000 following the Tories' 2014 election loss. The number has since grown to 200,000.
"Frankly, I think I opened the party up to tens of thousands more who simply want a reasonable, thoughtful...modern, inclusive PC party," he told The Canadian Press in an interview late last year.
Questions have been raised, however, about the party's membership figures, which Fedeli said will be scrutinized through an analysis of the party's membership rolls.
The interim leader has also ordered an overhaul of the party's membership management system, which was hacked in early November.
"Fixing this, and it needs fixing, will be a massive undertaking," he said. "But it is absolutely essential and absolutely doable if we're to win the next election."
The party is also currently working on establishing the rules that will govern its leadership race, which was announced by the party executive on Friday after a caucus recommendation to have Fedeli stay at the helm through the spring election.
Fedeli's announcement Tuesday means there is currently only one candidate officially in the running -- Toronto politician Doug Ford, brother of the city's late former mayor Rob Ford.
The party has also been grappling with the departure of former president Rick Dykstra, who resigned Sunday, just hours after Maclean's magazine published a report in which a woman alleged she was a young Conservative staffer in Ottawa when she was sexually assaulting by Dykstra in 2014, when he was an MP. The allegations have not been verified by The Canadian Press.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Conservatives have shuffled their critic portfolio Tuesday, with Fedeli saying he has appointed three of the party's caucus members to new critic roles.
Lisa MacLeod will take over from Fedeli as the party's finance critic. Lorne Coe will become the party's education critic, a role previously held by Brown, and Lisa Thompson will become the party's caucus chair. Fedeli said Thompson will play a key role in implementing a plan to strengthen workplace violence and harassment policies.
