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Patrick Brown comes crashing down


The Ontario Liberals were waiting for a misstep to knock Patrick Brown off his perch. Little did they know it would happen five months before the election – and end the career of the PC leader.

Brown is gonzo, toast, finished after sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him by two women. The allegations, first reported by CTV, involve two incidents, one with a constituency assistant while Brown was a backbencher in Stephen Harper’s government, another 10 years ago involving a woman who says she was in high school at the time.

A clearly shaken Brown presided over a hastily-called press conference at Queen’s Park just before 10 pm last night to read a prepared statement saying he would fight the allegations. 

Tellingly, there was no one with him. By then, his campaign manager, chief of staff, deputy campaign manager and press secretary had already resigned, and taken to Twitter to let the world know, indicating that the situation may be worse than is currently being reported. 

Brown exited his press conference, which took all of 1:27, chased by reporters. By early this morning the calls for Brown to resign from without and within the party had become too loud. Shortly after 1:30 am, Brown issued a statement saying he’s stepping down.

And so one of the most unlikely political stories in Ontario history – the rise of a little-known former Harper backbencher to leader of the province’s PCs – has come to a crashing end. Brown says he will stay on as MPP, but it seems only a matter of time before that will also become untenable.

Some among the hardcore in PC party ranks were busy on social media blaming the Liberals when the news broke. Others suggested that some within the rank and file still smarting from Brown’s nasty leadership win over Christine Elliott were the ones who stuck the knife in.

The problem with the first theory is that the Liberals are not the ones making the sexual assault allegations. Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne was careful not to call for Brown’s resignation last night.

The problem with the second theory is that it’s the lunatic fringe (aka social conservatives) in the party that’re pissed at Brown. Elliott represented the moderate middle.

It’s certainly true that so-cons in PC ranks were not happy with the more immigrant and gay-friendly direction Brown was taking the party. But most of them were willing to ignore that with Brown riding high in the polls. It was only last month the PCs were celebrating record membership and fundraising numbers Brown was attracting to the party. The future is all up in the air now.

With a provincial election just five months away, the party doesn’t have time to hold a leadership convention. The most expeditious route would be for the caucus to choose an interim leader.

But the early names being kicked around – Vic Fedeli and Lisa MacLeod – would mean turning the clock back and handing the reins to the right-wing rump that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in each of the last two elections for the PCs. How many in immigrant communities in the 905, where Brown has been busy mining support for months since his leadership bid, would vote for his replacement? There’s not much to choose from for the PCs. They’re all but dead in the water.

Even with Brown at the helm, those polls showing the party headed for a sweeping majority revealed something else – an unlike-ability factor for the former PC leader, especially among women. Brown’s approval ratings were nothing to write home about either, despite the gaudy majority government predictions.

The Liberals’ plan heading into the election was to exploit Brown’s various flip-flops – on the sex-ed curriculum, for example – and remind voters of his voting record on abortion rights and other social issues (gay marriage) as a staunch Harper supporter. Liberal party operatives were also betting on a rookie mistake or two on the campaign trail. That misstep has come earlier than expected.

Truth is, there was always something off-putting about Brown’s public persona. Three years after winning the leadership, he remained largely an unknown to many voters. Now they know more than they could have ever imagined about the former PC leader.

enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteo

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