Brown campaign: anyone but Poilievre
OTTAWA — Patrick Brown’s campaign says there’s a “strong likelihood” Brown’s efforts to challenge the federal Conservatives’ decision to disqualify him from the leadership race won’t succeed and that he will vote for Jean Charest to lead the party.
Tuesday evening, the campaign team shared a statement with media it planned to send to supporters after a call the previous night Brown had with more than 100 organizers and others helping his bid.
The campaign says Brown continues to pursue “all legal options” to appeal the party’s decision to boot him from the race -- but for the first time admitted that likely won’t happen before party members are set to pick a new leader Sept.10.
It says Brown has been clear: he would support any leader except longtime MP Pierre Poilievre, who had been his main rival.
His campaign says that Brown plans to vote for Charest. He has encouraged supporters to make their own choice about which of the five remaining candidates would make the best leader.
Brown’s campaign says he also considers Leslyn Lewis “a friend” and applauded Scott Aitchison for policy positions on fighting a controversial secularism law in Quebec, which Brown also opposes.
“Killing our campaign does not kill the vision we have for the party,” read the note to supporters.
“We will succeed eventually.”
His campaign’s message to supporters comes after John Reynolds, a former MP who had served as a co-chair on Brown’s campaign, came out and endorsed Charest .
But whether Brown’s supporters -- many of whom appear new to the party -- choose to follow suit isn’t necessarily that clear-cut.
“It’s all going to come down to how much work (Brown) and his organizers want to continue to put in this race,” said political strategist Chris Chapin, who previously worked in
Brown’s office when he was Official Opposition leader in Ontario.
In a statement circulated by Charest’s campaign, Reynolds said the ex-Quebec premier was the best choice to unite the party when its divisions within caucus and the broader movement are on full display.
“We have had too much negative publicity lately, so we need to offer Canadians a positive, unified and inclusive Conservative party with a new, time-tested leader,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds didn’t mention Brown by name or the disqualified candidate’s planned appeal.
But since Brown’s sudden dismissal a week ago, the situation has consumed the attention of the party’s top brass, along with many members and some organizers on other campaigns.
The chair of the committee that voted in favour of kicking Brown out of the race said it did so on a recommendation from the party’s chief returning officer, based on an allegation that Brown may have violated federal election laws.
A longtime organizer has since come forward as the one who made the allegation, saying Brown was involved in an arrangement that saw a private corporation pay for her work on the campaign.
Since his disqualification, Brown has stated his team did nothing wrong and accused the party of refusing to provide the full details of the incident when first asked to provide an explanation.