Patrick Brown scandal leaves PC party's future uncertain

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 25, 2018
Kim Zarzour

Is the end of Patrick Brown's bid for premier the end of the PC party's hope for a victory in the coming June election or does it mark the start of a new chapter for the provincial party?

Some party insiders believe the Brown bombshell — sexual allegations and the party leader’s resignation — could spell disaster for the provincial PCs.

Others say the Opposition leader’s stepping down could be the best thing for a party that had been, in recent months, divided over his leadership and troubled by nomination scandals.

Ted Leider, who ran for the party nomination in Richmond Hill last year said the party can find a stronger leader and have a better chance at victory.

“This will work to the benefit of the PCs."

Derek Murray, former Newmarket-Aurora PC riding president, now president in the Richmond Hill riding, said the resignation could be a relief to people who did not want him to be at the helm.

“There was a split in the party that could not be healed as long as he was leader.”

Murray and other Newmarket-Aurora executive members quit in protest, saying last spring’s nomination process in Newmarket-Aurora was “tainted by a blatant breach of the nomination rules.”

It was one of 14 Ontario ridings, including Richmond Hill in York Region, to be troubled by accusations of voter fraud, broken rules and ballot-box stuffing.

At the same time, several splinter parties and organizations, unhappy with the party’s direction, had mobilized to derail the Patrick Brown team.

It would be a shame if Brown was falsely accused, said former PC party supporter and Richmond Hill resident Mike Bowcott,  “but it was clear the party insiders wanted him out. Party insiders were all talking about a potential scandal involving Brown last year. Many said he would not survive it if it proved true. Even though he has denied the allegations, the party pushed him out which says it all. They were slowly coming to the conclusion that PB was not the right leader and they were going to lose the election."

Murray said Brown’s resignation could help the PCs if the party can quickly find a new leader who is more popular.

“Maybe things could change in a hurry, and for the better. After all, a lifetime happened for Patrick between yesterday afternoon and last night.”

Murray remains hopeful.

“The Conservative party has a good enough core, people with ethics and values and determined to make the province what it can be.

“I’m sorry this happened. I agree with what Patrick said; there is no place in this province for leaders to be in situations like that. But the party will survive.”

Peter Shurman, PC MPP representing Thornhill from 2007 to 2013, is not as hopeful.

“This is an unprecedented situation. We have never seen anything like this in Ontario before,” he said.

“People have been looking for dirt on Patrick Brown for years. There were doubts he could score a definitive victory to begin with. Now the party is in serious trouble.”

The time may be right for the party to reinvent itself, but it has to do so quickly, he said.

“They have to find a leader with presence and brand and a platform, who can pull it all together in 20 weeks," he said.

“The PC party has to decide, if it wants to exist, it has to address a younger generation with a whole new set of values.”

By Thursday afternoon, just 12 hours after Brown announced his resignation, Access Research was conducting a telephone poll asking how the sexual allegations had impacted responders' votes, and which leader they would prefer Doug Ford, Lisa McLeod, Tony Clement, Caroline Mulroney, John Baird, Christine Elliott or Lisa Raitt.

Former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate and longtime York Region MPP Frank Klees predicts the party will rebound despite the stunning allegations.

“I was shocked, obviously. I think everyone was,” he said in a phone interview from Florida Jan. 25, after Brown resigned in the early morning hours.

“However, in today’s world, in the environment in which we live today, allegations can come from the most unexpected corners. The interesting thing today for anyone in public life is that sometimes you have to be braced for allegations. I don’t have to tell you that allegations broadcast today without any filters by the media can ruin a person’s career without any due process and that’s the unfortunate thing. An individual has resigned his position under a cloud of allegations which have not yet had an opportunity to be tested, other than by, perhaps, one or two reporters.”

At the same time, Klees said there is “no excuse” for anyone to be subjected to sexual misconduct.

Klees, who said he remains involved with the party although he doesn’t have a formal title, said he knows Brown well.

“I know Patrick, sure I know Patrick. I’ve been very much involved in the party. I haven’t gone away. I’ve been supportive of the party and I’ve been supportive of Patrick as our leader since he was elected,” he said.

The party must now select a new leader and work to defeat Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals in the June 7 provincial election, Klees said.

“As a party, we now have a responsibility to look forward and to ensure that whoever we do elect will be able to carry the banner and win the next election for the party. There’s no question in my mind (the party can rebound from this),” he said.

“This in no way changes what the Liberal party has done to this province. This doesn’t eliminate from people’s minds the disastrous circumstances the Liberal party has left our province in. It doesn’t eliminate or eradicate the fact that a former chief of staff of the premier of this province was convicted of a criminal offence in conducting the business of the province.

"While it may be the hope of Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal party that somehow this will provide some cover for their mismanagement over the last number of years, I don’t believe it will.”

Klees, who was defeated in his run for the party leadership in 2004, said he’s not interested in running to be leader to replace Brown.

He said it’s too soon to say who the party will choose as its new leader.

York-Simcoe PC candidate Caroline Mulroney did not comment specifically on the sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Brown, but broadly denounced sexual assault and harassment in an official statement posted on her social media pages early Thursday morning.

“We are living in a powerful moment where woman and girls across Ontario, across Canada and around the world are ending their silence — and their stores of sexual harassment are being heard,” her statement, posted minutes after Brown announced he was stepping down, reads.

“This is a sad day. Women are facing yet another story of harassment. We have heard too many of them. But women across Ontario will continue fighting together. We are working to build a world where no woman has to say ‘me too’ ever again.”

– with files from Lisa Queen and Heidi Riedner