TORIES CAN GO FORWARD

On-again, off-again Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown has now, finally, called it a day, and whether he has been treated fairly or not over the course of the last month, he is right to bow out.

In a lengthy statement Monday, Brown even took some time to sound generous, describing the four remaining candidates for the party leadership in glowing terms: Christine Elliott as a passionate health-care advocate; Doug Ford as a man of “tenacity;” Caroline Mulroney as a “new and fresh force.” Indeed, Brown found kind words for Tanya Granic Allen, whose social conservatism he dislikes.

Much of Brown’s four-page statement (setting aside the parts where he excoriates his unnamed political enemies) was the exercise in statesmanship he needed to deliver four weeks ago, when accusations were first hurled against him. At the time, he reluctantly quit as leader, then said he was running. Only months before a provincial election, the PC party found itself mired in l’affaire Brown. It was a distraction the party — even with its lead in the polls — could ill afford.

Belatedly, Brown realized this. In withdrawing his name from the leadership contest, he implored the PC faithful to focus on “the real goal of replacing this tired Liberal government with a pragmatic, moderate, fiscally responsible alternative.” He urged “thoughtful, considered, affordable, pragmatic” public policy — a topic on which he occupies some high ground, having spent months developing a coherent platform. That does not mean he was right about how the Tories should position themselves, but he is right to urge his successor not to simply make knee-jerk pledges before the June 7 vote.

Brown’s letter is also, however, a sad glimpse at another side of politics. There can be little doubt he feels woefully treated — from the initial CTV reports of sexual misconduct (he is suing the network), to the behind-the-scenes political machinations that followed. His adversaries, he writes, “are no longer just targeting me. They are now targeting my friends and family.” Painting a scene of machiavellian ruthlessness, Brown writes he can’t both fight his enemies and lead a party. “You simply cannot shoot on two nets at the same time,” he concludes.

It will be years, if at all, before the public fully understands the Brown saga. But in stepping aside, this time definitively, he has given the PCs a fighting chance at taking down their real foes: Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberal party.