Brown, Fedeli settle suit over memoir statements

Ontario politicians Patrick Brown and Vic Fedeli have settled a contentious lawsuit over statements made in Brown’s 2018 political memoir.

The lawsuit resulted after Brown, the former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader, published Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown. The book is an account of Brown’s final days as PC leader.

On Thursday, Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, and Brown, now the mayor of Brampton, agreed to put their dispute behind them.

“In my book Takedown and thereafter, I made statements about a complaint of inappropriate conduct made against Vic Fedeli by a former member of my staff when I was leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party,” Brown wrote in a statement posted to the website of his publisher, Optimum Publishing, on Thursday.

“As I noted in Takedown, I did not believe that allegation to be in keeping with Vic Fedeli’s character,” Brown said in the statement.

“In publishing Takedown, and in statements I made thereafter about this allegation, I did not, and did not intend to suggest or imply that Vic Fedeli had in fact engaged in any such conduct or that he had in fact acted in any way inappropriately,” the statement said.

“To Vic Fedeli and his family: I regret if anyone understood me to be saying the opposite and I apologize for any misunderstanding.

“I consider this an end to the matter and will not be making any further statements or comment about it,” the statement said.

Brown resigned as PC leader in January 2018 after allegations of sexual assault, which he has denied. No charges were laid as a result of the allegations.

He was elected mayor of Brampton on Oct. 22, 2018.

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