Ontario Tories to decide if Brown can run for leader
TORONTO Patrick Brown is expected to find out Wednesday whether he will be able to continue his bid to lead Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives through the spring election.
The former Opposition leader, who was forced to resign last month amid sexual misconduct allegations, is fighting an uphill battle to reclaim his job, which has pitted him against the party brass.
A party nomination committee was expected to meet with Brown late Tuesday before deciding if the 39-year-old politician should be allowed to run as a Tory candidate in the June election. A decision against him would derail his efforts to reclaim the Tory leadership.
But despite the obstacles, Brown remained defiant Tuesday, promising to continue his fight.
“We have an obligation to the people of Ontario to get our province back on course,” he wrote in a message posted on Facebook — his preferred method of communication since stepping down. “I want to finish the job that we started.”
Three other candidates vying for Brown’s former job — Christine Elliott, Doug Ford and Tanya Granic Allen — will also be interviewed by the committee as part of a vetting process that will also look at their social media posts, previous jobs and criminal history. Caroline Mulroney, who is running in the York-Simcoe riding, is the only vetted candidate seeking the party’s top post.
Interim Tory leader Vic Fedeli, who has vowed to clean up the party and “root out the rot,” refrained Tuesday from commenting on whether Brown should be pushed out of the leadership race.