Brampton councilors frustrated with Patrick Brown’s decision to remain mayor

Five Brampton city councilors say Mayor Patrick Brown’s term “must end.”

The advisers, who include Pat Fortini, Martin Medeiros, Jeff Bowman, Gurpreet Singh Dhillon and Doug Whillans, wrote a letter Wednesday afternoon expressing their frustration with unproven “allegations of financial impropriety” under Brown’s leadership, which , according to them, equivalent to “a clear and alarming behavior.

The letter was released less than 24 hours after Brown was disqualified from the Conservative Party leadership race due to ‘serious allegations of wrongdoing’ by Brown’s campaign, according to the Election Organizing Committee in the leadership (LEOC) of the party.

“As the Conservative Party of Canada investigated serious allegations of voter fraud that led to his disqualification, a majority group of Brampton councilors launched forensic investigations into allegations of financial impropriety, nepotism and potential behind-the-scenes contractual irregularities under the failing leadership of Patrick Brown demonstrates clear and alarming behavior,” the advisers wrote in the letter.

Councilors say Brampton’s name is “smeared” because of Brown’s actions outside of city hall, and city business has stalled because of his priorities elsewhere.

Brown told CP24 that he was there “to deal with any city issues that arose” during the leadership contest and that he “juggled between the two responsibilities.”

He also said his absence from a number of recent council meetings was due to a “legal dispute” over the appointment of a new councilor and not because of the leadership race.

“If a decision were made in a council meeting with an ill-chosen adviser, every decision would be null and void,” he said.

Medeiros, however, said Brampton had essentially no leadership since Brown “put his name on it.”

“This organization has a cloud over its head and we have to move forward as a municipality. We have to move on and now we have elections in a few months. So that should bring clarity,” he told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER CAME UP WITH ALLEGATIONS A YEAR AGO

Medeiros said a whistleblower told councilors more than a year ago that city resources were being used for other purposes and a series of forensic audits were underway to get to the bottom. of these allegations.

Additionally, on June 15, Rebel News reported allegations that City of Brampton employees were working on Brown’s Conservative Party leadership campaign during working hours, which are funded by taxpayers.

“The reputation of the City of Brampton is really suffering. We have been dragged into a situation which is not (by) our decision,” Medeiros said.

“The City of Brampton should not be a second or third choice. This is not a place people come to when all else fails and the City of Brampton should be presented in a positive light and should be at the center of all decision making. And our concern right now is the reputational damage he’s having, it’s almost a cloud over City Hall. »

Brown denied all allegations and said his campaign made it clear that if a staffer wanted to work for him, they would have to work outside of normal working hours.

“We made it very clear that if you do it it should be in the evening or at the weekend, you can’t do it during working hours. And if someone wanted to come to a campaign event during work hours, they had to take unpaid leave while on the job,” Brown told CP24 on Wednesday.

After the announcement of Brown’s disqualification from the leadership race, Medeiros said it was an alarming trend with the mayor.

“So what appears to be a pattern, it’s not exclusive to what the Conservative Party is facing. We’ve been dealing with this for two years, and only a lot of you have understood now. So, what what’s frustrating for us is that we know what’s going on in Brampton,” he said.

Brampton City Council was due to meet today to discuss the allegations, among other things, but councilors said the meeting was canceled late last night. Councilors say it was the fourth consecutive meeting canceled so far this year. Previous meetings were canceled as there were not enough councilors to achieve quorum.

A special board meeting is scheduled for July 25 and a regular board meeting is scheduled for August 10.

“IT’S POLITICALLY CORRUPTED”

Brown was disqualified from the Conservative Party leadership race late Tuesday night after LEOC President Ian Brodie said he became aware of allegations related to Canada Elections Act funding rules.

“The information provided to date by Patrick Brown’s campaign has not addressed concerns about its compliance with our rules and procedures and/or the Canada Elections Act. The returning officer therefore recommended to LEOC that LEOC disqualify Patrick Brown and earlier this evening LEOC agreed to do so,” Brodie said in a written statement.

“Throughout the investigation of these allegations, the returning officer and I have done our best to be fair to the Patrick Brown leadership campaign and give them the time they need to substantially refute these allegations.” , Brodie said.

Brown says he was kicked out in a ‘politically corrupt’ move based on an anonymous allegation backed by supporters of leadership rival Pierre Poilievre – the longtime Ottawa-area MP who is seen as a frontrunner in the race.

“My campaign did nothing wrong. And I can tell you, if we hear anything wrong, we’ll fix it immediately,” Brown told CTV’s Evan Solomon on Wednesday morning in his first interview after his disqualification.

“They told our campaign there was an allegation that someone was being paid by a company to work on my campaign, but we have no information on who it was or who that company was. It is therefore impossible to respond to a ghost,” he added.

Brown says he was also a candidate who called out Poilievre, which he says the party didn’t like.

“Obviously the party establishment wanted Pierre. I am shocked that they are going to such extraordinary lengths to deny party members a democratic election based on an anonymous complaint about which we have no information,” Brown said.

Brown’s campaign says it is consulting with its legal team.

CONSERVATIVE PARTY MEMBERS WILL SOON RECEIVE BALLOTS

It is unclear whether Brown’s name will appear on the Conservative Party leadership ballot when members receive it in the mail in the coming weeks.

The winner is expected to be announced at a convention in Ottawa on September 10.

Brown says he’s disappointed he can’t continue racing.

“I’m disappointed because I wanted to build a moderate inclusive conservative party, I was determined to build the conservative party where it doesn’t matter who you love, where you were born, the color of your skin, what god you worship,” says -he.

It is the second time Brown has quit a Conservative leadership race, following his resignation in 2018 over sexual misconduct allegations which he denied.

Last week, the Conservative Party said about 675,000 members had registered to vote for a new leader, which they described as an unprecedented number for any federal political party.

With files from The Canadian Press