Jane Twinney, the sole remaining candidate in the race to follow Frank Klees as the Progressive Conservative MPP for Newmarket Aurora, is inviting the Party to consider suspending the nomination process until the Police have completed their investigation into alleged threats and intimidation against Stephen Somerville and his family.

She tells me that, while she doesn’t have any authority over the nomination process, she will put the request to suspend the nomination process before the Newmarket Aurora Riding Association President and before the Chair of the Nomination Committee at Party Headquarters. As it stands, nominations close on 6 March.

Jane Twinney deserves a huge round of applause for doing this.

Somerville pulled out on 19 February fearing for the safety of his family.

When the Police identify the person or persons responsible for issuing threats against Somerville and this leads to a successful prosecution, I would like to see a fairly lengthy prison sentence.

Update 14.25 Sunday 23 February: Jane Twinney wants to make it clear that she is not personally in favour of putting the selection process on hold on the grounds that the police investigation could take months and that the PCs could be left without a candidate in the event of an election. She confirms she has passed on concerns about the selection process to the Riding Association President and to the Nomination Committee at Party HQ.