Party chief quits over allegations

TORONTO — The opposition leader of Canada’s most populous province resigned as head of his party early Thursday after two women accused him of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers.

The resignation of Patrick Brown threw the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario into disarray less than five months before provincial elections that many believed he was poised to win.

The accusers told CTV News that Brown, a 39-yearold bachelor and well-known teetotaler, had served them alcohol and made advances on them in his bedroom when they were just teenagers and he was already an established politician.

The network shielded the identity of both accusers. One of the women was in high school more than 10 years ago when, she said, she returned from a bar to Brown’s home, where he exposed himself and demanded oral sex.

The other woman was a 19-year-old summer staff member in Brown’s office in 2013 when, she told CTV News, the politician kissed her and laid her down on his bed while she was inebriated. When she told him to stop, he did and drove her to her parents’ house, she said.

A visibly shaken Brown called reporters to the provincial legislature to deliver a brief statement Wednesday night to call the allegations “categorically untrue.” He vowed to defend himself “with all means at my disposal.”

“I reject these accusations in the strongest possible terms,” he said, his voice quivering with emotion. “It’s not my values, it’s not how I was raised, it’s not who I am.”

But hours later, after meeting with party leaders, Brown said he would quit as party leader while staying on as a member of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament.