Ottawa, ON – While the Conservative Party of Canada disqualified Patrick Brown from Conservative Party race, a group of 5 Brampton Councillors have demanded forensic investigations into another set of allegations during his time as mayor of Brampton. In a statement released by Councillors, they wrote, “a majority group of Brampton Councillors initiated forensic investigations into allegations of financial irregularities, nepotism and possible backroom contract irregularities under Patrick Brown’s failed leadership. This demonstrates a clear and alarming pattern of behaviour.”
The letter signed by Deputy Mayor & Councillor Pat Fortini, Councillor Jeff Bowman, Councillor Gurpreet Singh Dhillon, Councillor Doug Whillans and Deputy Mayor & Councillor Martin Medeiros, states, “The CPC decision comes as no surprise to us. In the past few weeks senior staff informed us that $629,000 in contracts went to a firm that employed one of Brown’s closest political allies and a close friend of his main council enabler, Rowena Santos. Then staff informed us most of the work given to these unqualified people was never even done, despite the taxpayers’ money being handed to them by former staff recruited to City Hall by Brown. Most are no longer here.”
“Other contracts were given to people directly tied to Brown or his chief of staff. Senior staff positions and other employment contracts went to glaringly unqualified individuals connected to Brown, many through Conservative political circles,” the letter alleges.
To protect Brampton taxpayers, the letter mentions, “we recently voted for a series of forensic investigations to find out how the hirings were handled, how the lucrative contracts were given to Brown’s associates, where all the money went and how exactly was it used.”
Brown’s bid to become the next leader of the federal Conservatives came to an abrupt end Tuesday evening after the party was made aware of “serious allegations of wrongdoing” by Brown’s campaign.
According to Conservative Party, in recent weeks, “became aware of serious allegations of wrongdoing by the Patrick Brown campaign that appear to violate the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act. Following Rules and Procedures for the 2022 Leadership, the Chief Returning Officer notified the Patrick Brown campaign of the allegations and asked for a written response. He also withheld the interim membership list from the Patrick Brown campaign.”
Ian Brodie, Chair, Leadership Election Organizing Committee, said in a statement, “The information provided to date by the Patrick Brown campaign did not satisfy concerns about their compliance with our Rules and Procedures and/or the Canada Elections Act. The Chief Returning Officer has therefore recommended to LEOC that LEOC disqualify Patrick Brown and earlier tonight LEOC agreed to do so. The Party will be sharing the information it has gathered with Elections Canada, who is responsible for ensuring compliance with, and enforcement of, the Canada Elections Act.
“Throughout the investigation into these allegations, the Chief Returning Officer and I have done our best to be fair to the Patrick Brown leadership campaign and provide them with the time they need to substantively refute these allegations. We regret having to take these steps but we have an obligation to ensure that both our Party’s Rules and federal law are respected by all candidates and campaign teams. None of these problems has any impact on the integrity of the vote itself.
“While we felt it important to provide a transparent response to Party members about this matter, because this issue is now subject to further investigation, we will not be speaking further on the subject.”
On the other hand lawyers for Brown have filed notice with the Conservative Party of Canada that they intend to appeal a decision to disqualify him from the party’s leadership race. According to CTV, “To be clear, Mr. Brown has engaged in absolutely no misconduct,” the lawyers wrote in their letter. “Your refusal to specify the allegations grounding your recommendation demonstrate this. He has refuted the paltry information you have provided and repeatedly asked for particulars.”
