Another scion of a former Canadian prime minister is jumping into the family business.
Caroline Mulroney, a Toronto-based lawyer and the eldest daughter of former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, has announced she is seeking an Ontario PC nomination for the 2018 election.
She is aiming to run in York-Simcoe, currently held by PC MPP Julia Munro. Munro is retiring next year after more than two decades at Queen's Park and has already announced her support of Mulroney. The riding is held federally by Conservative veteran Peter Van Loan.
Mulroney made her bid official Wednesday with a video released to her website where she said government needs to "get out of the way," manage taxes properly and focus on affordability.
"As a working mother of four, I know we need change," Mulroney says in the clip. "I want people to have the opportunity to thrive."
In a Facebook post, Mulroney blasted Ontario Liberals for "skyrocketing hydro rates, job-killing regulations, higher taxes, while we're drowning in debt."
The biography on her campaign website makes no mention of her famous dad, but notes that Mulroney was born in Montreal, "grew up in Ottawa," and is bilingual.
According to the site, she is currently the vice-president of Toronto-based investment firm BloombergSen Investment Partner and a graduate of Harvard College and the NYU School of Law.
She hinted at a run for a provincial nomination at the federal Conservative leadership in Toronto in May. Along with Tory MP Candice Bergen, Mulroney served as the co-master of ceremonies on the first night of weekend event, often speaking in French.
Mulroney scored laughs from delegates when she took a playful dig at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, asking: "Who would want to run for the dad's old job?"
'Who would want to run for the dad's old job?'
She later told CBC News that politics was something that she always considered for a career and made clear she is a Progressive Conservative.
"What I've learned from watching my father and so many of our friends participate in it, it's all about timing and opportunity and getting all those things right," she said.
Polls have suggested for some time that the Ontario Liberals could be in trouble with voters, with an election set for next June. According to the Angus Reid Institute, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne remains the least popular provincial leader in Canada.
In 2015, a Toronto Sun columnist sparked chatter by reporting Tory insiders wanted Mulroney to pursue the federal leadership, ultimately won by Andrew Scheer. She later told iPolitics that, while "flattered," she was not interested in the job.
Besides Trudeau, who was first elected in 2008, a handful of other children of prime ministers have also successfully run for political office.
Hugh John Macdonald, son of Canada's first PM John A. Macdonald, served as a Manitoba MP.
Former Tory prime minister Charles Tupper had two sons who were also elected to public office: Charles Hibbert Tupper, who served as a longtime Nova Scotia MP, and William Johnston Tupper, who was a Manitoba MLA.
Jean-Paul St. Laurent, son of former Liberal PM Louis St. Laurent, served as a Quebec MP while his dad was running the country.