In 2018, while seeking election as Premier of Ontario, Patrick Brown retired from the race in disgrace, facing allegations of sexual misconduct. Four years later, he is now a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, despite more than one controversy. His supporters see it as proof of perseverance, an exceptional ability to rally his troops.
On March 13, there were dozens waiting for the announcement of the 43-year-old politician in Brampton, a suburb of Toronto. “Be with me and let’s come together for a better future for Canada,” chanted Patrick Brown at the end of a speech announcing his entry into the leadership race, notably against Pierre Poilievre and Jean Charest.
“Mayor Brown” — as he describes himself during this race — was elected to lead Brampton, an Ontario municipality of 656,400 people, in October 2018, with 44% of the vote. His decision to run for mayor was just one step in his political ambitions, analyze political scientists. Patrick Brown was unavailable for an interview at To have to, said Jeff Silverstein, its director of communications.
In 2015, the Ontarian left his seat as an MP, which he had held for nine years, to become leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, with the aim of being elected premier of the province. On January 24, 2018, less than five months from the provincial election, when he held a slim lead in the polls, a report from the CTV network had the effect of a bombshell upsetting his plans. The network reveals that two women are accusing him of sexual misconduct. One says she was sexually assaulted, and the chief allegedly asked the other woman to perform oral sex.
Patrick Brown has a few hours to prepare a response, says political analyst Dimitri Soudas, who was at the time volunteering in his election campaign. (The analyst claims to be neutral in the race, despite his past association with the mayor.) The next day, Patrick Brown resigns and files a libel suit against CTV, which will be settled four years later. A note has since been added to the top of the article — still online in its entirety, with all the allegations — in which the network apologizes and says “important details” were incorrect. Patrick Brown has always denied the allegations, which have never been proven in court.
Members of his team resigned after the publication of the article. By email, Alykhan Velshi, his former chief of staff, explains that he heard rumors about a possible story about a week before the report was released. But it wasn’t until the same day that he learned of the details, when CTV contacted him. “I recommended that he withdraw [des élections] and when he refused, I myself resigned,” says Alykhan Velshi. It is finally Doug Ford who will take the place of Patrick Brown within the party and who will be elected Prime Minister.
The first milestones of the return
At the time, Patrick Brown wasted little time in speaking about the events that led to his departure from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. A little over a month after the CTV article, he signs a deal to write the book Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown, which he would publish eight months later. In the book, the politician attacks some of his former colleagues in the party: Victor Fedeli, who became interim leader after his departure, and Lisa MacLeod, who became finance critic. “Was she involved in my leaving? asks Patrick Brown in his book.
According to political scientist Peter Graefe, the writing of the book already marked one of the first milestones in Patrick Brown’s return to politics. “It shows that he was thinking a little long term,” observes the professor from McMaster University.
He wasted no time either in relaunching his political career: nine months after the scandal, he was elected mayor of Brampton, the ninth largest city in the country by population. “It is clear that the town hall was a landing pad while he thought about returning to politics [provinciale ou fédérale] says Martin Horak, a professor at Western University, who is interested in municipal politics. A month after his election, the book is published.
Favorable conditions at the town hall
The conditions were favorable for his coronation. According to Peter Graefe, his main opponent — incumbent mayor Linda Jeffrey — was not a “political ace.” In interview with The dutyMme Jeffrey admitted “from the bottom of her heart” that she did not want to run again in 2018. On the other hand, notes Martin Horak, the mayor was a former member of the Ontario Liberal Party, who had just lost 48 seats in Queen’s Park during the provincial election. A few voters mentioned allegations of sexual misconduct during the campaign, says Linda Jeffrey. “But I think the voters believed him [lorsqu’il a nié les allégations] “, she continues.
According to some experts, Patrick Brown’s time as mayor has facilitated his return to the federal scene. First, thanks to a certain media obscurity, the municipal controversies have not attracted much attention, advances Martin Horak. “His political network is in the community,” said political scientist Randy Besco, in Mississauga.
Since his election as mayor, Patrick Brown has funded, with public funds, a legal challenge to the Secularism Act of the State of Quebec. His position was a fairly clear way “to position himself for a return to politics elsewhere than in Brampton”, judge Peter Graefe. While serving on the Peel Regional Police Board of Directors, in 2019 the mayor voted for a motion encouraging the recruitment of Quebec police affected by the law. However, no Quebecers answered the call.
Criticized at the municipal
Since that time, Patrick Brown has also been the target of criticism for his work on the municipal scene. In December 2021, the local Chamber of Commerce denounced the budget and the city council, noting that the City lacked “financial discipline”. In February, councilors claimed the mayor’s style of governance was “authoritarian”.
During his election as mayor, Patrick Brown could count on the support of most of the cultural communities of the city, where more than half of the residents were born outside of Canada. However, this support may have waned. Journalist Yudhvir Jaswal of South Asian outlet Y Media recently asked the mayor about wearing the niqab. Patrick Brown had just denounced his opponent, Pierre Poilievre, because of his support for the Conservative Party bill in 2015 which required immigrants to take an oath with their faces uncovered. “I was criticized by viewers for asking the question,” says Yudhvir Jaswal. “People are fed up with identity issues,” he says.
Despite everything, influential members of the Conservative Party have given their support to the mayor, who is currently third, according to an Abacus Data poll conducted at the end of March. This is the case, in particular, of Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who has been named co-chair of her national campaign. “Pierre Poilievre is the leader in the race, but he should not underestimate the organizational capacity of Patrick Brown,” thinks analyst Dimitri Soudas. “He is obviously a good organizer behind closed doors,” says political scientist Randy Besco.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.