PC email revelations ‘unfair,’ Brown says
Tories were asked not to talk to the Star about ex-MPP whose seat went to leader
Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown insists he was up front about a paying job for the ex-MPP who resigned his seat for him — despite internal party emails ordering staff to stonewall.
Atesty Brown complained Tuesday about an “unfair” story in the Star revealing Garfield Dunlop received compensation after stepping down in Simcoe North so the new PC leader could run in a byelection last year.
The Tory chief was responding following the publication of emails that show his office misled the Star about the arrangements with Dunlop, who has not returned messages seeking comment for the past two days.
With the governing Liberals under investigation at the time for allegations of bribery in the Sudbury byelection, senior Tories were emailing back and forth in September 2015 about how to respond to questions that the MPP was on the payroll.
Brown expressed displeasure at linking the Election Act charges against Patricia Sorbara, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s former deputy chief of staff, with the Dunlop deal.
“First of all, Garfield Dunlop was a 25-year MPP who chose to retire. He came to me . . . saying that he was going to resign. I think the comparison in today’s Toronto Star is unfair,” the leader said.
“The Toronto Star was informed as soon as I learned about it — before he even got his first paycheque. In full transparency I went and informed the Toronto Star.
“It’s not our obligation to tell you what everyone at party headquarters is being paid. We told you when he was employed. That’s more transparency than any other party has been saying and frankly that should have been in (Tuesday’s) Star.”
But the emails show the Tories wanted to keep a lid on Dunlop’s appointment.
“As of Monday, Garfield will be coming on board as a full-time adviser to the party, on contract with the PC Ontario Fund. FYI, his change in status from part-time volunteer to full-time contractor is not public. It is not a secret but there is no reason to broadcast it either,” wrote PC lawyer Mike Richmond in a Sept. 11, 2015 message to senior officials.
In an email to Richmond and other top Tories two weeks later, Brown’s director of communications confided that the Star had been told Dunlop wasn’t yet being paid.
“The leader has spoken to the Toronto Star about Garfield advising them that Garfield will be working with the party in the near future. That he has not received compensation this far,” wrote Tamara Macgregor on Sept. 30, 2015.
“I would ask that no one speaks to them. We do not comment on internal party matters.”
One day earlier, Richmond voiced his reservations about not telling then-Star reporter Richard J. Brennan, who retired last year.
“Tamara informed me this morning that she told Brennan that Garfield is a volunteer. Brennan told her that he knows we are paying Garfield and that Garfield is hiding from him,” the lawyer wrote to Brown, Macgregor and other top Tories.
“We cannot continue to look like we are hiding something, and we cannot continue to call Garf a volunteer since it is no longer true. The truth is completely legit and we have nothing to be ashamed of. We need to correct the record or we look like we are lying.”
On Tuesday, Brown played down what he called “internal party matters.”
“We went out of our way to keep the Toronto Star informed — something that I think is not normally expected of Progressive Conservative leaders. That’s why I thought the article today was unfair.”
Deputy premier Deb Matthews and other Liberals were chortling.
“Now we have the revelation that he knowingly misled members of the media and therefore the public on whether or not Garfield Dunlop was being paid,” Matthews said.
“He clearly knew that Dunlop was getting paid and he told you folks that he wasn’t. So, once again, we have to question is this somebody who you can trust to tell the truth or is this somebody you always have to second-guess?” she said.
“He’s had different opinions on different issues; he’s had different positions at the same time on the same issue.”
That’s a reference to Brown’s flipflop on the updated sex-education curriculum he once opposed but has since embraced — albeit after a very public spat with the social conservatives who backed his 2015 leadership.