Patrick Brown has been cleared to run for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, a job he previously held, a source told CBC Toronto Wednesday afternoon.
Brown's registration in the leadership race has ignited a fractious internal battle between his grassroots supporters, caucus allies and the party's top brass. The public squabble fuelled speculation the PC provincial nomination committee would block his candidacy.
The embattled former Opposition leader is a candidate in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte, a new provincial riding that will be contested for the first time in the spring election.
Brown was interviewed Tuesday night by the committee, which wields the power to reject a leadership candidate on any grounds it sees fit. While there isn't a formal process, vetting usually includes looks at a potential candidate's employment and legal history, as well as their social media footprint, among other considerations.
Initially, it was unclear whether a complaint filed with the province's integrity commissioner earlier in the day would affect the committee's decision.
"I don't tolerate dishonesty and I speak up and will challenge him at anytime," MPP Randy Hillier said Wednesday outside the legislative chamber, referring to Brown's alleged financial and ethical impropriety laid out in his complaint.
Patrick Brown's face was featured on the PC's platform for the 2018 provincial election touting the People's Guarantee. He vows to uphold these promises if he wins leadership of the Opposition. (Mike Crawley/CBC)
Brown, a 39-year-old MPP who currently represents Simcoe North in the legislature, has endured a tumultuous year so far. He was forced to resign his leadership post late last month after he lost support from most of caucus and key staff members following allegations of sexual misconduct by two women.
Brown "vehemently" denied the accusations, repeatedly saying in statements posted to Facebook that important elements of the women's stories can be proven to be untrue. He maintains that his name has been cleared since the allegations were first published.
On Friday, just hours before Brown filed his leadership registration papers to enter the race he triggered, PC interim leader Vic Fedeli booted him from caucus, forcing him to sit as an independent in the legislature. Fedeli also sent a letter to the PC party executive stating that Brown did not have his confidence to run as a PC candidate in the June 7 election.
Despite the fallout, Brown pressed on, holding a campaign-style event with supporters at a Mississauga hotel over the weekend.
"We can't win by walking away from the platform that our party members worked so hard to build," he said of the People's Guarantee, which the PC's rolled out this fall.
'I don't tolerate dishonesty,' Conservative MPP Randy Hillier says of Patrick Brown's alleged ethics breach. This comes a day after he filed a complaint with the province's integrity commissioner. (CBC)
Then on Tuesday, Hillier filed a lengthy complaint against Brown with Ontario's integrity commissioner accusing him of "dirty and crooked politics" that breached the province's ethics rules during his time as Tory leader.
"We have uncovered a lot of things that don't appear proper," he told reporters Wednesday outside the legislative chamber.
The five-page document outlined allegations of "significant" financial and ethical impropriety, including a failure to report sources of income, which includes financial ties to his Barrie house and nomination votes, alongside the acceptance of "lavish" gifts.
"We have a Members' Integrity Act for a purpose and for a reason. It's not to be followed sometimes. It's not to be thought of as a frivolous nature," he said.
"Democracy and our institutions require openness and transparency, and requires legislators to follow the law as well as people."
Brown, in response to the complaint, called Hillier's filing "garbage" and said "that's just Randy being Randy." He also vowed it would not deter him from continuing his leadership campaign.
On Wednesday, CBC Toronto learned that two PC members named in Hillier's complaint about an alleged all-expense paid trip to India in January 2016 say they don't have any evidence that Brown accepted this gift or withheld disclosed it from the province's integrity commissioner.
PC MPPs Lisa MacLeod and Jack MacLaren acknowledged they accompanied Brown to India, but could not confirm the other details that Hillier outlined.
Both added they paid for their own trips.
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