Yes, we are aware that the Ontario government is concerned about the supply of electricity to the province. The question is: Can we get the Brown Out we need? We are talking here about the beautiful city of Brampton. Can we get that Brown out?
Just four years ago, Patrick Brown was scurrying around Ontario looking for a new political hole to crawl into. The former city councillor from Barrie, the former MP from Simcoe County, the former MP from Barrie, and former leader of the Ontario conservatives and former MPP has not had much experience at holding a real job.
The Ontario conservatives refused to let him run for his old job again. He tried for the new job as chair of Peel County in 2018 but the new conservative leader, Doug Ford, nixed that idea. Brown’s solution was to run for mayor in the city of Brampton, the second largest city in Peel County. Despite some confusing excursions into federal politics over the past four years, Patrick Brown’s name is on the ballot again this year in Brampton. And this year there is some fierce competition for the job.
I met Patrick in Barrie when he first ran for federal politics in 2006. I did not like him then. To me, he represented the sleaziest aspect of politics. I have met politicians of all stripes in 60 years of politics. I have always been repulsed by those who made a career of it. I hardly see the point of people under 30 seeking political office. There have been very few who have proved worthy.
Brown’s reputation was already there to see. He was considered a retail politician. He told you what he thought you wanted to hear. He played the game on the edges of legality. He found out you cannot charge a trip to the United Nations as an MP when all you are going to New York for is to run in a marathon. How much time his staff spent on his promotional fund raising for charity was always in question. More than once I came close to demanding an audit on some of his claimed expenses in various campaigns. I resented the government expense charges for his trips to India to build his contacts among the south Asian diaspora in Canada.
And there was no surprise that he swamped the Ontario conservative party’s membership with temporary sign-ups among that south Asian diaspora to win the Ontario leadership. He seemed to have limitless funds available, as I was told paying party membership was optional. He obviously got caught when he tried similar tricks for the federal party.
But it’s up to the voters in Brampton to turf Brown out in this election. Please.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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