Barrie residents shocked, saddened
Patrick Brown a mainstay of city’s political landscape for more than 20 years
BARRIE— As word spread through Barrie, Ont., Thursday that Patrick Brown, a mainstay of the city’s political landscape for almost 20 years, had been accused of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls, some residents reacted with surprise and dismay.
Others, though, preferred to make no public comments at all. Some said they knew him and it’s a small town or that they were not yet clear on the allegations.
Brown resigned early Thursday morning as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives hours after CTV reported allegations from two women that Brown, a known teetotaller, had inappropriate sexual relations with them while they were teens.
By the time Brown, who denies the allegations against him, said he would step down as leader, key members of his staff and election campaign had already announced they were leaving his team.
In his constituency north of Toronto Thursday afternoon the door to his Orillia office was locked and the lights were off.
At Hooligans, the sports bar Brown has a stake in on Dunlop St. E. in Barrie, a bartender told the Star neither she nor the manager would
“It’s a sad day for Barrie, a sad day for those girls.” CYNDI TAYLOR CANVAS AND CABERNET OWNER
comment.
Next door, at Canvas and Cabernet, a wine and cocktail bar that offers painting classes, owner Cyndi Taylor said Brown was a “fixture” in the community.
While Taylor said she didn’t know him personally, she said the allegations were “shocking.”
“It’s a sad day for Barrie, a sad day for those girls,” she said.
Brown was very involved in the community, Taylor said, adding that she had often seen him downtown.
“I never heard a bad thing about him,” she said. “Like him or not, it’s a sad day.”
At the Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, Rachel Martin, who has lived in Barrie for three years, said she was “shocked” and “disappointed” when she heard the allegations.
“It felt like he was a big deal in the community,” she said, adding that a lot of people were backing him for the long haul.
She doesn’t, however, think he will be the only politician in Canada to come under scrutiny as the #MeToo movement emboldens victims to speak out.
“A lot of victims are feeling invigo- rated by what’s happening,” she said.
Brown, originally from Toronto, became a city councillor in Barrie, where his mother grew up, at age 22.
By 28, he was elected to Parliament and would serve as Barrie’s MP from 2006 to 2015.
In May 2015, though he didn’t yet hold a seat in Ontario’s legislature, Brown won the leadership of the provincial PCs, aiming until early Thursday morning to be the province’s next premier.