Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership hopefuls head to Sudbury Monday for their first official debate.

MPPs Christine Elliott, Vic Fedeli and Lisa MacLeod, and MP Patrick Brown will square off over issues of special concern to residents in the north.

Doug Ford, the former Toronto mayoral candidate, has not declared whether he'll jump into the campaign.

Leadership candidate Monte McNaughton, whose wife's family is from Sudbury, said he received less than two weeks notice of the debate and had already booked a major event in his riding which could not be postponed or cancelled.

However, many in the north have told him that they would like to see the speed limit increased on some of their roads, he said. "So I think that's something as a party that we need to look at," McNaughton said. "I want regional policies in our platform. I want to move away from the one-size-fits-all platforms that we've had over the last four elections ... So, local candidates and local MPPs can talk about issues of importance to them whether that's the Ring of Fire or Northern Ontario increasing the speed limits on highways."

Fedeli issued a "Northern Pledge" Monday which he said would build a more broadly inclusive PC Party.

"Our party's northern policies will be written with northerners," Fedeli pledged. "Our party, as government, will ensure that northern communities have more input into laws that affect their way of life."

In an opinion piece published Monday, Fedeli said the party released a policy paper dedicated to issues in the north that had vanished by the time the actual election platform was released in the spring, just prior to a disappointing election loss for the Tories.

"We did nothing to seek the support of northerners, and they responded," Fedeli said.

Brown said he would ensure that government policies support new business investment and job creation by building infrastructure, lowering energy costs and cutting red tape. Government should be a partner to help businesses get products to market by road, rail or high-speed Internet connection, Brown said.

"Premiers and party leaders have to stop treating the north as a photo-op," Brown said. "The north is an important part of Ontario's past and the key to Ontario's future prosperity."

Elliott said northerners want an economy that works harder to produce jobs and opportunity, and a government that lives within its means.

"What I'm also hearing in my travels through the ridings of Northern Ontario are concerns with the maintenance of roads, especially in the winter. The current government has failed the north on this issue," Elliott said. "They are also concerned that the (Kathleen) Wynne government is dragging its feet on the necessary investments in infrastructure that will open up the Ring of Fire. There are tens of thousands of jobs at stake."

In a message sent to her fellow PC members this weekend, MacLeod said she's running to be leader because the province has fallen behind under 11 years of Liberal government.

"Today, in too much of Ontario those 'Help Wanted' signs I saw when I first made Ontario my home have been replaced with 'For Lease' signs," she said.