Ontario PC leader 'open' to helping Toronto repair community housing

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown says if elected, his party is "open" to the idea of helping Toronto pay for repairs to its social housing stock.

But Brown would not say how much a PC government would be prepared to give for Toronto Community Housing repairs and said he is not in favour of road tolls or new taxes.

In an interview on Metro Morning, Brown said details will come when the party releases its platform before the next provincial election set for June 2018.

• Patrick Brown says he'll be a 'partner the mayor can depend on'

"Our policy platform will be out, for every Ontarian to see and for every Torontonian to see, well in advance of the next election," he told Matt Galloway on Tuesday.

The party will have a policy conference in November and all party members will be asked to vote on that platform, he said. He said the party now has more than 100,000 members.

"I want it to be a grassroots policy development process. I should say our most significant membership growth has happened in the city of Toronto. Certainly, our platform will be voted on by the membership."

Brown met Toronto Mayor John Tory at city hall on Monday and Brown promised that the PC party would be a "partner" to the city.

Afterwards, Liberal Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca spoke to reporters, defending the government's investments in the city.

Brown said the province is taking notice.

"I'm starting to get them to pay attention to Toronto and that's a good thing," he said.

On Tuesday, he said the party is interested in helping the city to repair its crumbling TCH buildings, but he declined to say if he supports the idea of the provincial government assuming those costs on an ongoing basis.

"I'm certainly going to look at being one of the funding partners, supporting and helping Toronto meet that demand," he said.

"I'm certainly open to that. I believe we have a responsibility to help here."