Forster calls out Jeffs about Patrick Brown tweets
Niagara Centre MPP Cindy Forster says Ontario Progressive Conservative candidate April Jeffs can’t have it both ways when it comes to former provincial Tory party leader Patrick Brown and allegations surrounding him about past sexual misconduct.
On Sunday, Forster reacted to a tweet Jeffs had put out two days prior on a Twitter account dedicated to her campaign to be the next MPP for Niagara Centre.
Jeffs’ tweet said: “What happened to you wasn’t right.” It also had a link to a story in the National Post on Brown refuting the allegations.
What troubled Forster, who announced she will not be seeking reelection, was that tweet was directly above one in which Jeffs expressed support for the women who came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Brown, who resigned as leader.
Jeffs’ tweet on Jan. 25 said: “There is zero tolerance for any unwanted sexual advances or harassment of any kind in our society. The allegations surrounding Patrick Brown are extremely troubling and disturbing. My heart goes out to the brave women who came forward and they deserve to have their voices heard.”
Forster’s tweet said: “You can’t have it both ways, Mayor Jeffs. Either you believe and support the young women who bravely came forward against Patrick Brown or you support him as you tweeted ‘ what happened to you wasn’t right.’ Which is it? Niagara Centre needs to know!”
“She talked about supporting these women and how brave they were to come forward and talk about this. She needs to take a position,” Forster said.
Jeffs said people she’s spoken with across Niagara Centre have repeatedly told her what happened to Brown wasn’t fair and went too far and destroyed a life, family and reputation.
“I stand behind what I said and have been very clear that we cannot tolerate sexual misconduct, abuse or harassment in society and I believe that everyone has the right to feel safe, however, I also believe that this should not come at the expense of the accused’s rights,” Jeffs said, adding she doesn’t doubt the women who have come forward.
She said she supports those people who do come forward but believes in due process.
“Lack of due process is what I am hearing at the doors, it’s what the people are saying,” said Jeffs.
Forster, too, believes in due process and said everyone has a right to go through it, but added people don’t get to control how things play out.
The MPP doesn’t buy into the reasoning put forward by some people that if something happened to a woman, whatever their age, they would come forward right away. She said statistics show that nine of out of 10 women do not report sexual assaults for various reasons, such as the stigma attached to it, feeling like they did something wrong, and not wanting to live the rest of their life with it.
Forster said with various movements, such as #MeToo, that have sprung up in the past year or so, more women feel they can come out and report what happened to them.
“Whatever the trigger, it happens at different times for different women,” she said of coming forward to report an assault, misconduct or abuse.
Forster said she’ll continue to make people like Jeffs clarify their positions as the election draws closer. She said the feedback to her tweet has been mostly positive.