Doug Ford on becoming PC leader, uniting the party and taking on Wynne

Fresh off his victory in the PC leadership race, the newly minted leader of Ontario's Progressive Ontario party, Doug Ford, spoke with CBC's Dwight Drummond about his big win in the leadership race, reaching out beyond the GTA and taking on Kathleen Wynne.

Here's what he had to say.

Q: Your family has a history of these surprising electoral victories. Talk about this one.  

A: Well, I don't know how surprising it is. I think people underestimate the grassroots people in this province. They're pretty frustrated right now and the state of affairs here and we're going to do our best to make sure that first of all, we're uniting the team and we're going to turn this province around.

A: Well I've always said from day one our message resonates more on the 519, 705, 613, than it does in the 416. And we proved it when we went to these towns. It doesn't matter if it was eight o'clock in the morning or eight o'clock at night the place was packed at every stop. Be it Orangeville at eight o'clock in the morning or in Barrie or Brockville, Belleville, Peterborough. What a response we have, and the grassroots people are standing up. They're standing up. This is a movement that I've never seen in 30 years, and they're frustrated. They want relief.    

Q: To get that relief, some concrete policies. We've heard a lot of broad strokes, but the devil is in the details. How do you get down to the details and give Ontarians some of the things you plan to do with some of specifics?

We're going to drive efficiencies through lane practices, bus practices and technology, and we're going to find four cents on the dollar, and that will again would be able to reduce hydro costs. Get rid of this carbon tax, which is a burden on every resident in Ontario, but there's a burden on businesses. So we're going to make this the most prosperous region to do business in anywhere in North America, because Ontario will be open for business.

Q: It's a pretty divisive race here as far as the leadership race. The caucus didn't give you their full support. How do you now get this party fully behind you?  

Q: Are you confident you can take Kathleen Wynne on? She's a seasoned politician, been in power for a long time in the province. It seems that people may want change and you're that change delivered.

A: I just had a conversation with Kathleen Wynne and I've said publicly, over and over and over again and I'll say it right here on CBC. I have a great deal of respect for Kathleen Wynne. She's a formidable opponent. She's a great campaigner and she's a great debater, but she's never debated Doug Ford before.

So I look forward to it and I never underestimate the Liberals. They'll do anything to hold onto power. Absolutely anything, but we'll make sure that we win and we'll turn this province around.