There is a big difference between taking the blame for something than to accept responsibility. And it appears that the Ontario news media are not letting Progressive Conservative Provincial Leader Patrick Brown hide behind that difference.
It all has to do with that letter that helped the Tories win the by-election in Scarborough—Rouge River at the beginning of the month. The letter was in both English and Chinese, signed by Mr. Brown and delivered on the last weekend to as many as 13,000 households. The letter promised that if the Conservatives were elected to a majority in 2018, they would cancel the Liberal government’s updated sex education guide.
It all seems to be about at what age you should call a penis, a penis. Some of the objections to the new sex curriculum among newcomers is that children should not be taught this too young. Mind you, they can learn lots of other names for a penis at play time.
Which brings us back to that putz, Patrick Brown and the difference between blame and responsibility. At first, he denied knowledge of the letter. The only problem was that his signature was used on it. The one thing that is made absolutely clear in any party leader’s office is that while there is a machine available to put the leader’s signature on documents, it is a trust that cannot be violated. Only the leader can be responsible.
But Patrick Brown says he did not see the letter. Was he in a cloistered monastery without Internet at the time? Party President Rick Dykstra saw the letter. Why has he not resigned? By-election co-campaign manager Doug Ford had obviously seen the letter. What is Brown going to do about that? Certainly some people in the leader’s office need to be fired. They should line up the sacrificial lambs.
Obviously Mr. Brown is skating on the blame game. He is accepting the blame for the incident—since it is too late to call back the letters. He is just not taking responsibility.
All this incident really proves is that Mr. Brown is not a responsible person. He can take the blame and fight on—and fight as dirty as he likes. This is his type of politics. This writer might accuse the ruling Liberals at Queen’s Park of stupidity but they at least try to keep it civil. Watching Mr. Brown from his electoral district here in Barrie for the past nine years has been like watching the process of rot.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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