Why was Conservative Leader Patrick Brown getting all the attention in the final week before yesterday’s provincial by-election? It was while his party’s candidate in the Scarborough—Rouge River was convincing ethnic Chinese in the high newcomer ratio electoral district that their concerns about their children’s sex education would be addressed.
We did tell you that he is a manipulator did we not? Watching Patrick Brown in politics for the past nine years, our opinion is that he is neither a nice person nor a fair campaigner.
In nine years in Ottawa, he never made a substantial political contribution to his riding or for Canadians. He was a drone in the House of Commons. He was a lackey for his favourite cabinet ministers. The only times there was a free vote in the Commons, he voted against women’s rights on abortion and against same-sex marriage.
In his electoral district of Barrie, Ontario, he attaches his name on the coattails of charities supposedly helping them raise funds. His big effort each year is a hockey event to promote himself and his party. There are always conflicting claims and figures and there never seems to be an audit of the funds raised.
But now he finds himself in the deep end of the pool swimming with the big kids. He stole the Ontario Progressive Party leadership with a trick learned from the former Harper cabinet minister, Hon. Jason Kenney. He aligned himself with more than 100,000 people from the Indian Sub-Continent who emigrated to Ontario in recent years. His organization signed up tens of thousands and paid the party memberships for most of them. He swamped the provincial party’s regular membership which was at a low ebb after the years of Harris and Hudak leadership. He beat an honest and progressive candidate who campaigned according to the rules.
Mr. Brown has had an on-again, off-again relationship with the anti-abortion Right-to-Life organization for many years. They like his social conservative stand against abortion. He won those votes among the Ontario Conservative voters last year.
When Brown and his insiders sent out that letter to Scarborough—Rouge River a week before the by-election, it was in English and Chinese. They knew there was a possibility of being exposed but they only had to apologize in English. There was no effort made to tell people whose principle language is Chinese that he was recanting.
We have been telling the Wynne Liberals about Mr. Brown since he decided to try his hand at provincial politics. He might look like a small-town nerd but he plays really nasty. Premier Wynne had better think about it after losing last night in an electoral district that, until now, was always Liberal.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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