Politics Briefing: Patrick Brown removed as federal Conservative leadership candidate to keep party 'beyond reproach,' official says – The Globe and Mail
Patrick Brown was removed as a candidate for the federal Conservative leadership to avoid the risk of having a prospect for the position under investigation, says the chair of the party’s leadership committee.
As the fallout over Mr. Brown’s disqualification continued Friday, the party issued a statement from Ian Brodie, head of the leadership election organizing committee (LEOC), to members of the Conservative Party.
“LEOC could not afford the risk of having a leadership candidate under the investigation of Elections Canada for breaking federal law – especially one that did not answer the questions we put forward to him to bring him into compliance,” the statement read.
“Our leadership race is to select a person to contend for the role of prime minister of Canada. The process must be beyond reproach and in full compliance with the law.”
Five candidates remain in the race: Ontario MPs Scott Aitchison, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre, as well as former Quebec premier Jean Charest and Roman Baber, a former member of the Ontario legislature. The winner, based on a mail-in vote, is to be announced Sept. 10.
Mr. Brodie acknowledged transparency questions on the Brown issue. “I would love to share all that we have,” he said. “But we have legal restrictions of what we are to say when we are dealing with allegations of breaking federal law. That’s why we referred this case to Elections Canada.
“The reality is our party received credible, verifiable information alleging serious wrongdoing in the Patrick Brown leadership campaign that violated not only the leadership election rules, but the Canada Elections Act.”
He said the party spent a week, working with the party lawyer, looking for a path to bring the Brown campaign in compliance with party rules and federal law.
“To be clear, the Brown campaign knew full well what the allegations were. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply incorrect,” he said.
Meanwhile, a former campaign organizer for Brown says the disqualified candidate was aware that a corporation was paying her for campaign work, which is illegal under federal election laws. There’s a story by Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife and I here.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
ROGERS NETWORK OUTAGE – A widespread Rogers Communications Inc. network outage across the country Friday morning is interrupting internet, cellular and 911 services and affecting payment systems. Story here.
NEW CANADIAN SANCTIONS – Canada has imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia’s media machine that is designed to puncture disinformation campaigns about the war in Ukraine. Story here.
LICH DENIED BAIL – Freedom convoy leader Tamara Lich has been denied bail for violating the conditions of her release when she attended an awards gala in Toronto and had contact with another convoy organizer. Story here from CBC.
TRUDEAU DENOUNCES “HORRIFICALLY DISTURBING” ASSASSINATION OF ABE – The assassination of Japan’s former prime minister during a campaign speech is “horrifically disturbing” and demands pushback against rising violence and threats that are harming democracy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Story here. Globe and Mail Asia Correspondent James Griffiths reports on the assassination here.
AMBROSE BACK IN POLITICS – Former federal cabinet minister Rona Ambrose is back in politics, chairing the campaign of one of the contenders for the leadership of Alberta’s United Conservative Party. Story here from Global News.
SURPRISE JOB LOSS – The Canadian economy posted a surprise loss of jobs in June, the first monthly decline that was not associated with tighter public-health restrictions since the outset of the pandemic. Story here.
SCHOLZ COMING TO OTTAWA – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is coming to Ottawa next month to push for liquefied natural gas terminals on Canada’s East Coast and the release of a turbine, caught up in sanctions against Russia, critical to the flow of gas to Europe. Story here.
REVIEW OF AFN FINANCIAL POLICIES – First Nations chiefs from across Canada have voted in favour of reviewing the Assembly of First Nations’ financial policies, and if deemed necessary, conducting a financial audit. The vote, which took place on the final day of the AFN’s annual general assembly, solidified support for National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, who was suspended by the AFN’s executive committee last month. Story here.
JAMES SENTENCED – A man at the centre of one of the biggest spending scandals in the history of British Columbia politics has been sentenced. Story here from CTV.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Jean Charest and Pierre Poilievre are all in Calgary. Leslyn Lewis was en route from Yellowknife to Calgary on Friday.
THIS AND THAT
The House of Commons is not sitting again until Sept. 19. The Senate is to resume sitting on Sept. 20.
GUILBEAULT IN SUDBURY – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, in Sudbury, made an announcement on engaging youth in the fight against climate change.
WILKINSON IN ST. JOHN’S – In St. John’s, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson held a news conference at the conclusion of an energy and mines ministers’ conference.
PREMIERS MEETING NEXT WEEK – Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders – members of the Council of the Federation – will be holding a summer meeting next Monday and Tuesday in Victoria. Please check The Globe and Mail for coverage.
PUBLIC SERVICE APPOINTMENTS BY THE PM – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed Erin O’Gorman, current Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board, as the new president of the Canada Border Services Agency as part of a series of changes to the senior ranks of the public service announced Friday and detailed here.
THE DECIBEL
New episodes of The Decibel are not being published on Fridays for the months of July and August. You can check previous episodes here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings, and the Prime Minister participated in the unveiling of the Humanity Art installation in Ottawa, with Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, and Toronto Raptors President and Vice-Chairman Masai Ujiri attending.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail)on how the very nature of a leadership race based on selling memberships as fast as you can is corrupting: “At the very least, the choice of party leader should be restricted to the party’s existing members at the start of the campaign. In the best of all worlds, they would be elected by the parliamentary caucus. Perhaps these could be supplemented by the candidates of record in ridings not held by the party. Or perhaps, for those who object to the choice being left to mere MPs – those nobodies, as our quasi-presidential system makes them out to be – some hybrid scheme could be adopted, like the one now used by the British Conservative Party: The caucus narrows the choice to two, on which the membership votes. Or we can stick with the present system, and endure more scandals, more takeovers by single-issue zealots, and still greater marginalization of MPs under leaders chosen not by them, but by a phantom electorate bought with gobs of cash.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail)on how Pierre the Polarizer has got the Conservative Party and he could certainly take the country too: “Having already won with a Reform brand of conservatism under Stephen Harper, it’s hardly a stretch to think that a Conservative Party under Mr. Poilievre, a former Harper cabinet member, could win again. Mr. Harper was able to avoid the extremist tag, and benefited from a great run of fortune: the sponsorship scandal, the Jean Chrétien-Paul Martin split, the RCMP incredibly calling a midelection criminal investigation into the Liberals’ finance minister’s office – which was similar to what the FBI did to Hillary Clinton in 2016 as she was campaigning against Donald Trump. Throw in some breaks like that to the many trends already working in its favour, and a Poilievre-led Conservative Party could win the country handily.”
Rita Trichur (The Globe and Mail)on how dairy market protectionism is exposing Ottawa’s hypocrisy on free trade: “Canada wants the world to believe that it’s committed to free trade. But when it comes to dairy imports, other countries are calling our bluff. New Zealand is the latest trading partner to complain about fettered access to Canada’s dairy market, alleging that Ottawa is violating provisions of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Pacific island country’s grievance follows that of the U.S., which is pursuing its second such trade challenge of our dairy restrictions under the auspices of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. These dairy disputes are damaging Canada’s credibility as a free-trading nation, and the timing couldn’t be worse. Ottawa is busy negotiating bilateral trade agreements with other countries including Britain and India, but its protectionist dairy policies are under scrutiny like never before.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail)on how poor Patrick Brown is the subject of a takedown again:“Maybe Patrick Brown is the most unfairly persecuted politician on the planet. Despite his deep fidelity to the rules and squeaky clean procedural history, trouble seems to find him – or rather, is maliciously assigned to him, in the form of repeated and deliberate political takedowns (which, not coincidentally, inspired the title of his 2018 memoir, Takedown). Perhaps there’s something about Mr. Brown that his many enemies, both past and present, have feared – enemies that have at times included the news media, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and, now, the federal Conservative Party, which disqualified him from its leadership race Tuesday evening over “serious allegations of wrongdoing.” Is it his moderate form of conservatism? His vision for Canada that is radically … uh … inclusive? Why else would Mr. Brown – noted choirboy, scrupulous ethicist, the Ned Flanders of contemporary Canadian politics – so routinely be the subject of financial, moral and procedural scandal?”
Don Braid (The Calgary Herald)on federal Conservative candidate Jean Charest promising Alberta a new deal in Canada:Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest vows to break the bronco of Alberta anger with a unique special deal for the province. If he becomes Conservative leader and then prime minister, Charest said Thursday, he would immediately develop an “Alberta Accord – a specific agreement with Alberta on the issues Alberta cares about.” “I want this Alberta accord to say to the rest of the country that we are responding to the issues of Alberta,” Charest said in an interview before starting Stampede appearances. “We are going to answer. We’re not just going to pretend the problems aren’t there.” Charest says he would ask to meet the Alberta premier within 30 days of being sworn in. Shortly thereafter, he would co-chair a meeting with all premiers.”
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Tom Cotton speaks at a press conference in December 2023.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The MAGA right exists in a perpetual state of overheated grievance. But as the November election nears, the temperature seems to be rising, getting dangerously high.
This week, following Gaza war protests that disrupted travel in major American cities Monday, Senator Tom Cotton explicitly called on Americans to “take matters into [their] own hands” to get demonstrators out of the way. Asked to clarify those comments Tuesday, Cotton stood by them, telling reporters he would “do it myself” if he were blocked in traffic by demonstrators: “It calls for getting out of your car and forcibly removing” protestors,” he said.
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The right-wing senator’s comments came on the heels of Kari Lake, the GOP candidate for Senate in Arizona, suggesting supporters should arm themselves for the 2024 election season. “The next six months is going to be intense,” she said at a rally Sunday. “And we need to strap on our—let’s see, what do we want to strap on? We’re going to strap on our seat belt. We’re going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ballcap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us, just in case.”
And those comments came a couple weeks after Donald Trump, who regularly invokes apocalyptic and violent rhetoric, shared an image on social media depicting President Joe Biden—his political rival—hog-tied in the back of a pick-up truck. “This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,’” a Biden spokesperson told ABC News last month, referring to the former president’s dog-whistle to extremist groups during a 2020 debate and to cryptic remarks he’s made from rally stages this spring suggesting Biden’s reelection would mean a “bloodbath”—for the auto industry and for the border. This kind of thing is nothing new—not for Trump, not for his allies, and not in American history, which is what makes these flirtations with political violence all the more dangerous.
We’ve seen where this kind of reckless rhetoric can lead. Throughout Trump’s first campaign for president, it led to eruptions of violence at his rallies, which he openly encouraged: “Knock the crap out of ‘em, would you?” he told supporters of hecklers. It also inflamed tensions throughout his presidency, which culminated with his instigating a violent insurrection at the United States Capitol. According to a PBS Newshour/NPR/Marist poll this month, 20 percent of Americans believe violence may be necessary to get the country on track. A disturbing new study out of University of California-Davis found openness to political violence was even higher among gun owners, particularly those who own assault weapons, recently purchased their firearms, or carry them in public. And an October survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution suggested that support for political violence, while still limited, appears to be increasing, with nearly a quarter of respondents overall—and a third of Republicans—agreeing with the statement: “Patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”
“It looks like the temperature has gone up across the board, but especially among Republicans,” Robert P. Jones, president and founder of PRRI, told Axios of the survey last fall. That’s no accident. It’s the kind of political climate you get when a sitting senator promotes vigilantism, a Senate candidate calls on supporters to take up arms, and a major party embraces or enables a demagogue. “Political violence,” as Biden campaign communications director Michael Tylerput it a couple weeks ago, “has been and continues to be central to Donald Trump’s brand of politics.”
A new walking tour this summer will celebrate the legacy of a man who literally changed the face of Toronto’s politics, Canada’s first elected politician who wasn’t white: William Peyton Hubbard.
Elected as a City Alderman in 1894, Hubbard served until 1914, including stints as acting mayor of Toronto. But east end resident Lanrick Bennett was embarrassed to say he’d never heard of him until the 2010s — when Hubbard’s name was put forward in a park naming contest in Riverdale.
In 2016, a park at Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street E. was officially named Hubbard Park. This summer, Bennett is organizing a historical walking tour from Hubbard’s former residence on Broadview to the park, which will be lead by fellow east ender Marie Wilson, who initiated the campaign to name the green space after him.
“As a parent, I want my kids to understand that there are people that look like them that were around, that were here, that came before,” Bennett said.
“They were fighting the good fight back then.”
The tour is part of a series of Black history walking tours that Bennett will be hosting this summer to coincide with Emancipation Day in August, called #HearThis. This week, he was awarded a $1,000 grant from the charities Toronto Foundation and Volunteer Toronto to organize the walks.
He will also be digitizing the routes so people can do them on their own time.
A portrait of W.P. Hubbard at 89 years old. He was born in 1842 and died at the age of 93 in 1935. (City of Toronto Archives)
“This entire project is about amplification,” Bennett said. “I don’t know everything about all the history within this neighborhood and within this community, but I want people to start digging.”
Park named after Hubbard in 2016
In the contest to name the park nearly a decade ago, Wilson put up flyers and approached people in the neighbourhood to tell them who Hubbard was and why they should vote for him. She learned of Hubbard from the plaque in front of his former home.
“I’m not only fascinated by history, but by forgotten history and the forgotten people in history,” she said. “I think that Hubbard fell into that category. I know that there are some people who know of him and did back then, but in a big way, I don’t think he was known.”
At the time of the park’s unveiling, Hubbard’s great-granddaughter Lorraine Hubbard said it was the first, permanent public recognition of his contributions to the city.
Marie Wilson, at left, will be leading the walk, which was organized by Lanrick Bennett, at right. (Martin Trainor/CBC)
Aside from the fact that he was the city’s first Black politician, who always stood up for the underdog, she said her favourite fact about Hubbard was that he baked himself a birthday cake every year.
Hubbard was born near Bathurst and Bloor streets, after his parents escaped enslavement in America. But he didn’t begin his political career until he was in his 50s, after working as a baker and cab driver.
He was elected in his second attempt in one of the wealthiest and whitest wards in Toronto, which spanned University Avenue to Bathurst Street. He was reelected 14 times.
Hubbard faced and fought racism
When others wanted them privatized, Hubbard helped keep Toronto’s hydroelectric and water systems public utilities, which led to the creation of Toronto Hydro. He was also part of the city’s Board of Control, a powerful four-member group at the city’s executive level that advised the mayor on municipal spending.
Wilson said he was also an instrumental player in the creation of High Park.
“He was a champion of the underdog and he just felt that the poor people, the disenfranchised, needed what we now call green space,” she said.
While breaking barriers, Heritage Toronto’s website says Hubbard defended other marginalized groups, such as the city’s Chinese and Jewish communities, from discrimination and violence.
But being a Black man at the turn of the century, he had his own experiences of racial abuse from city councillors from other cities, Heritage Toronto says. When conducting business outside the city, he was sometimes required to carry character reference letters from the mayor.
Bennett hopes that through the tour, he can provide a context of the Black history found in Toronto’s east end.
“It’s kind of cool to be living where we do and to know that history is around you and it’s literally outside of your front door,” he said.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has dipped into the Quebec government ranks to add a new candidate to his team.
Éric Lefebvre, the Coalition Avenir Québec government whip, is leaving the province’s ruling party and will sit as an Independent before joining the Tories ahead of the next federal election.
Poilievre wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was proud to have Lefebvre join the Conservative team.
On Tuesday night, Lefebvre announced he was leaving the CAQ caucus but would continue to represent the riding of Arthabaska, northeast of Montreal, as an Independent.
Quebec Premier François Legault wrote on X that he asked Lefebvre to withdraw from caucus.
Lefebvre, who was unsuccessful in a 2008 run for the federal Conservatives, first won the Arthabaska riding in a 2016 byelection and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
