The Pollcast: Patrick Brown blows up the Ontario PC leadership race

The CBCPollcast explores the world of electoralpolitics,political polls and the trends they reveal.

The race to replace Patrick Brown as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives gained a surprising new candidate this week:Patrick Brown.

His candidacy complicates what was already a challenging leadership campaign for the four other contestants. Now they have to do more than make their pitches for the job of taking on Premier Kathleen Wynne in Ontario's June election they also have to explain why Brown should be kept away from the job he gave up four weeks ago.

• Patrick Brown cleared to run for Ontario PC leadership
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Along with Brown, the candidates vying for the PC leadership are Tanya Granic Allen, Christine Elliott, Doug Ford and Caroline Mulroneya colourfulgroup even before Brown showed up.

Granic Allen is running a campaign primarily based on opposition to the Liberal government's sex education legislation. Elliott is trying to win the leadership of a party that rejected her on two occasions already. Mulroney is the daughter of a prime minister who has little political experience on her resume, while Ford is the brother of the late Rob Ford whose term as mayor of Toronto might be the only recent Canadian political drama tomatch the turmoil of the Ontario PC leadership race.

Polls suggest PC party members are not only choosing their next party leader, but the favourite to be the next premier of the province as well.

That makes it an important choice. To discuss the implications of Brown's candidacy and what it means for the PC leadership race,Pollcasthost ric Grenier is joined by the CBC's Katie Simpson and Aaron Wherry.

Listen to the full discussion above or subscribe to the CBCPollcast here and listen to past episodes.

Follow ric Grenier, Katie Simpson and Aaron Wherryon Twitter.