The former Ontario PC Party Leader is seeking to get his old job back.
What’s old is new again.
The Toronto Sun is reporting that Patrick Brown is running to get back the job he lost due to accusations of sexual misconduct.
Brown had been rapidly abandoned by his staff and PC MPPs, and was quickly replaced by interim leader Vic Fedeli.
The party then called a leadership race.
However, in recent days there have been increasing doubts about the accuracy of the allegations made against Brown, and he passed a lie detector test. He has also said he will sue CTV News for huge inaccuracies in their story – which is the story that led to Brown being removed in the first place.
Many people – including many who didn’t support Brown politically – have been disturbed by how quickly the Ontario PC Party leadership threw him under the bus on the basis of anonymous allegations – without even giving him much of a chance to fight back.
Shockingly, interim Ontario PC Leader Vic Fedeli kicked Brown out of the PC Caucus today, though he remains a party member and is thus eligible to run for the leadership.
Now, the Toronto Sun says they have confirmed Brown is entering the race, and also pointed out that “In recent weeks, other leadership camps have been attempting to attract Brown’s supporters and liaisons from various ethnic communities onto their own teams. A number of prominent grassroots organizer recently told the Sun that they were holding back their support to wait and see if Brown did in fact enter the race.”
Here’s what some of Brown’s leadership race opponents are saying:
Statement from Ontario Progressive Conservative Leadership Candidate Doug Ford #pcpo #onpoli pic.twitter.com/GCjqMGQydY
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 16, 2018
The determination of who is suitable to be a candidate in this leadership race is up to LEOC. As I’ve said before, Patrick Brown made the right decision to step down. A leadership election is not the place for him to try to clear his name.
— Caroline Mulroney (@C_Mulroney) February 16, 2018
Our focus should remain squarely on beating Kathleen Wynne in less than 100 days. This is a distraction from that and I am disappointed. #onpoli
— Caroline Mulroney (@C_Mulroney) February 16, 2018
With fewer than 100 days, now is a time for unity. I am the leader that can unite the party and beat Kathleen Wynne. #pcpoldr #pcpo #onpoli
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) February 16, 2018
What do you think about Patrick Brown running for Ontario PC Leader again?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
I believe Brown has every right to run for the leadership and I find it disappointing that the PC party has acted as it has. It’s actions are less than honourable, as it has acted prematurely on highly questionable and unfounded allegations. This has become the trumpet call these days, “vilify based on unfounded allegations”!
As he is Liberal-lite and supportive of the onerous carbon tax, I don’t support him. He can’t beat Wynne
Spencer I certainly HOPE he is not going to be placed back in. We cannot afford his wanting the Carbon Tax.
I hope he clears his name if not guilty of it (and I have read he is suing the newspaper) but worried that some in the party may welcome him back. He can always try again – another year – another time!
His decision is an understandable but selfish one. We look for selfless sacrifice in our elected officials and hold them to a higher standard than we would anyone else. It is heartbreaking for him, this is his life, his plans his ambitions. But right now we have to look at bigger picture. The process has begun and him running is a distraction and all about him and not about the province and the greater good. I have all the sympathy in the world for him but at the moment, not a lot of respect.
He should not run. He is no more Conservative that Trudeau himself. It makes me sick what was done to him, and he should sue and clear his name. However, any other candidate is better than him for actual Conservatives. In my opinion he didn’t earn the leadership position in the first place – he stole it.
Patrick Brown gathered some his like minded people around him & made some decisions that are NOT Progressive Conservative. Anybody that runs for Ont Leader of Conservative Party MUST get rid of the Carbon Tax it’s killing our province.
I am thinking Brown and his legal team should receive a record settlement from the courts. The CTV news team and their executives should be required to do the ‘walk of shame’ down Yonge St with “FAKE NEWS” emblazoned on chest sashes.
The conservative party has lost it grass roots conservatives under Brown. Brown is a liberal in conservative colors. He is the victim of a dirty game by whom we are not sure. Despite a plan to destroy him as a political leader they have also destroyed his person. This is wrong. Having said that he cannot take the conservatives to defeat Wynne and should not run for the leadership.
While I can understand he wants to clear his name, being premier and party leader is a privilege not a right and only those who there is no question that they are fully clean should be allowed to run. He has too much baggage and by him doing this, he is just greatly increasing the chances that Wynne gets back in. We don’t need this.
The social conservatives who ensured Brown’s nomination as PC party leader were betrayed by the man time and time again. We wanted a candidate who would stand firmly against the Wynne-Levine sex ed curriculum. He betrayed us. We wanted a conservative leader who would stand against the carbon tax. He betrayed us. And on and on. He can’t win. The party members who got him the leadership won’t be fooled again.
Don’t run, sue both the provincial Progressive Conservative Party for throwing him to the wolves and also the CTV for sloppy investigative reporting and character assassination.