Brown was the victim of ‘political hit,’ sister says

TORONTO — The sister of Ontario’s former Opposition leader, who stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct, says her brother was the victim of a “political hit.” Stephanie Brown says in a Facebook post that the allegations that led her brother Patrick Brown to resign are “completely false.” She describes Brown as a kind man who works tirelessly for others and says he did not deserve what happened

to him this week. Brown stepped down as Ontario Progressive Conservative leader early Thursday after emphatically denying what he called “troubling allegations” about his conduct and his character.

The allegations were brought by two women who spoke to CTV News and have not been independently verified by The Canadian Press.

Lisa MacLeod, a Progressive Conservative legislator, said Friday she flagged rumours about Brown to his campaign team weeks before he

stepped down, though she would not specify who she spoke to. MacLeod said she passed along information about Brown “two or three times” as recently as December.

“There’s been a lot of speculation and people have heard a lot of different things throughout a period of time. So there were lots of things that were percolating that a lot of people heard,” she said. MacLeod said she was told the allegations were unfounded.

She would not elaborate on the nature of the allegations but said they were “similar” to those brought forward this week.

The party could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Several key members of Brown’s staff resigned as the allegations against him surfaced, saying they did not approve of how he handled the situation. MacLeod said in a tweet those who resigned were not the people she had spoken to about Brown.