Patrick Brown officially launched a bid to become the next leader of the federal Conservatives in an event Sunday morning in Brampton, Ont.
“Every battle that I have fought in the past pales to the one ahead of us now,” he said in his announcement speech.
Brown framed himself as a candidate who could grow the Conservatives and win a general election, as well tackle affordability, support religious freedom and unite the party.
“The question every person who votes in this leadership race needs to ask themselves: Can this candidate become prime minister, or will they keep our party in the opposition benches?” he said.
Brown, 43, has held positions at all three levels of government. He was a federal Conservative MP for Barrie from 2008 to 2015 before leaving for provincial politics and becoming leader of the Progressive Conservatives that year. He became mayor of Brampton in 2018.
Brown resigned his role as head of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives after he was accused of sexual misconduct in a story published by CTV News in 2018. He has denied the allegations andrecently reached a settlement in a defamation suit launched against the network.
A statement released by the broadcaster and Brown said CTV regrets some factual inaccuracies their original story contained. The statement did not specify what those inaccuracies were and a CTV spokesperson declined to elaborate.
The original article includes a correction that updates the age of one of two women who accused Brown of sexual misconduct.
Brown is pitching himself as a candidate who can united the Conservatives, grow the party and find success in urban Canada. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
In his speech Sunday, Brown portrayed himself as a victim of “cancel culture.”
Brown joins a race that is now well underway with several high-profile additions this week, including former Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis. MP Pierre Poilievre entered the race in early February.
Brown is seen as a more centrist option than Poilievre and Lewis. Early in his career, Brown was an admirer of Charest when the latter was leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives, which later merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the modern Conservative Party of Canada.
Promises outreach, urban success
On Sunday, he made a pitch to voters that focused on a campaign of outreach in order to grow the party.
“The only thing that matters to be is a better future for you, and the Conservative party that I am fighting for is one that is principled and inclusive. I want people who have never voted Conservative, who have voted for other parties, to feel welcome in our party,” he said.
The current Brampton mayor is also thought to be able to draw on a strong political organizing foundation to sell memberships to the federal party.
“A leader needs to work hard, and I assure you, no one will work harder than I will,” Brown said.
His stronghold in the populous, diverse city of Brampton — part of the wider Greater Toronto Area — is also likely to be part of his pitch to a federal party that has, in the last two elections, racked up wide margins in rural areas of the country but has struggled in urban Canada.
“I know that to lead Canada, a prime minister has to speak to every Canadian. It doesn’t matter what province or territory you’re from, who you love, what your faith is, or if you live on a farm or in a city. You need a prime minister who hears your voice — and that’s me,” he said.
Brown meets with mayors from around the Greater Toronto Area in 2020. Brown says he has proven he can be successful in a diverse, urban part of the country, given his election as mayor in Brampton, Ont. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Brown promised to recruit competent and diverse candidates in seats currently not held by the Official Opposition, and unite the caucus. And he promised to lead a Conservative breakthrough in the GTA.
“Mark my words, with me as Conservative party leader, there will no longer be free passes for Liberal seats in suburban Canada,” he said. “In fact, with me there will be no safe Liberal seats anywhere.”
Skirts carbon tax, emphasizes religion freedom
Brown’s presence in the race will also provide an interesting policy challenge for the party membership. On the environmental file, Brown shifted the provincial PC stance prior to the 2018 election to support a carbon tax.
In his speech Sunday, Brown touched on his stance on the carbon tax, noting his recent call for the federal to cancel the scheduled increase to the federal levy. While he maintained that the Conservatives needed to be part of the solution to climate change, he said that must be balanced with affordability concerns.
But he did not take a firm stance on whether a Conservative party with him at its head would support a carbon tax.
“As leader I will oversee a Conservative party membership-wide consultation on the environment. I’ve learned from experience that our members need to decide the position of our party, and I’m confident that together we can come up with a winning position,” he said.
Brown’s speech on Sunday, which he delivered largely in English with some French, also focused strongly on the idea of supporting religious freedoms and opposing the controversial Bill 21 in Quebec.
“No one should ever lose their job based on their faith,” Brown said. As mayor of Brampton, he spearheaded an effort by municipalities to donate money to legal challenges to the law.
He also promised to rebuild bridges he said had been burned by the Conservative’s embrace of two controversial policies during the Conservative government led by former prime minister Stephen Harper: the “barbaric cultural practices” hotline and the ban on wearing the niqab during citizenship ceremonies.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
