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Patrick Brown (Canadian politician)

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For other people named Patrick Brown (disambiguation), see Patrick Brown (disambiguation) (disambiguation).
Patrick W. Brown
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Assumed office
May 9, 2015
Preceded byJim Wilson (interim)
Member of Parliament
for Barrie
Assumed office
2006
Preceded byAileen Carroll
Personal details
Born (1978-05-26) May 26, 1978 (age 46)
Toronto, Ontario
Political partyProvincial:
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (2015-present)
Federal:
Conservative Party of Canada (2006-present)
Residence(s)Barrie, Ontario
ProfessionLawyer

Patrick W. Brown (born May 26, 1978) is a Canadian politician. He is the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and a federal Conservative member of the House of Commons representing the Ontario riding of Barrie since 2006. On May 9, 2015, Brown was elected leader of the Ontario PC Party.[2] He has announced that he will be resigning from the House of Commons of Canada on May 13, 2015.[3]

Background

Brown graduated from St. Michael's College School, a private Catholic school, and then went on to study political science at the University of Toronto. He then graduated with a law degree from the University of Windsor. During his second year at law school, he was one of 10 recipients of the prestigious As Prime Minister Awards. He also worked for Magna International in their legal department over a period of four years.

Brown served two terms as President of the Progressive Conservative Youth Federation (PCYF) from 1998 to 2002. He also served on the executive of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, as a Vice President. As PCYF President, Brown was one of the early supporters of a united right and drew criticism for his decision to support a united right from party leader Joe Clark and Member of Parliament Scott Brison. Nonetheless, Brown was later re-elected as PCYF president with 81 percent of the vote against Jonathan Frate of Manitoba.

Brown was the Deputy Chairman of the International Young Democrat Union (IYDU).[when?] He has also represented Canada on a number of international assistance projects hosted by the IYDU.

Hockey night in Barrie

Shane Corson, Patrick Brown, and Mike Gartner 2012
Shayne Corson, Don Cherry, MP Patrick Brown, and Mike Gartner at Hockey Night in Barrie 2012.

For several years, Brown has been involved in the event, which raised $250,000 for the Royal Victoria Hospital in 2014 and more than $1.1 million in total over the previous six years. The charity hockey tournament features current and retired hockey players and other celebrities.[4]

Politics

Brown was elected to the Barrie City Council in 2000 at age 22 while still a student. He defeated the incumbent councilor. He was re-elected in 2003 with 72 percent of the vote.

In the 2004 federal election, Brown ran as the Conservative candidate in the riding of Barrie. He lost to incumbent Aileen Carroll by 1,295 votes.[5] Brown ran again in 2006 this time defeating Carroll by 1,523 votes.[6] He was re-elected in the 2008 election by 15,295 votes over Liberal candidate Rick Jones.[7] In the 2011 election, Brown was elected to his third term in office.[8]

On September 28, 2014, he announced his intention to run in the 2015 Ontario party leadership election. He registered as a leadership candidate on November 20, 2014. He said that, unlike the other candidates, he was not involved in the four consecutive losses that have kept the Ontario PCs out of power since 2003.[9] Fellow Ontario MP Rick Dykstra endorsed him.[10]

Ontario PC leadership election

In September, 2014, Brown announced his intention to run in the contest to replace former PC Party Leader, Tim Hudak. From the outset of his campaign, Brown positioned himself as an outsider, challenging the leadership of the party, which had overseen significant defeats in the last four provincial elections. In the most recent election campaign, in 2014, the party election platform included a commitment to "cut 100,000 government jobs". As the only one of the original five leadership candidates who was not a member of the Ontario legislature, Brown claimed not to have been involved in the promise, which he apparently considered "ill-advised",[9][11] despite attending the announcement in his home riding.[12] Brown's rivals attempted to use this same lack of previous involvement in provincial politics as an argument against his leadership bid.[13][14]

In March, Brown emerged unexpectedly as the front-runner in the race, having sold over 40,000 of the 70,000 memberships in the party.[15][16][17][18] During the campaign, Brown was highly successful in bringing many new members to the party. The past four leadership contests were won by those who sold the most memberships.[19]

Brown had been criticized by his rivals[20] and in the media for not resigning his federal seat during his provincial PC leadership campaign. Brown was frequently absent from the House of Commons for votes during the leadership campaign and had one of the worst voting attendance records in the Tory caucus and of any MP between September to December 2014.[21] A spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed, however, that members aren't expected to step down but are expected to "continue to fulfill their parliamentary responsibilities, including membership on committees and attendance at votes."[22]

On May 9, 2015, Brown was elected leader by the members of the PC Party.[23]

Political Views

During his PC Party leadership campaign, Brown was noted for his criticism of Ontario's sex education in schools and opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.[24]

Controversy

File:Section from 2008 Hockey Night in Barrie flyer.jpg
Photograph of section from 2008 Hockey Night in Barrie flyer sent by MP Patrick Brown claiming that the event in Barrie was his idea.

In 2008, Brown sent out a flyer in which he claimed that the Hockey Night in Barrie fundraiser for the Royal Victoria Hospital held that year was his idea,[25] when the event had actually taken place twice before, first as "Hockey Night in Barrie" on November 19, 2004 and then again on April 21, 2006 under the banner "Go For The Goal".[citation needed] In a 2010 article about the fundraiser, retired NHL player Shayne Corson stated that it was he and a number of people from the Royal Victoria Hospital who started the original fundraiser.[26] A November 13, 2004 article confirms Corson's involvement in the November 19, 2004 edition of the fundraiser, but makes no mention of Brown.[27] Brown is mentioned, as a participant, in an April 16, 2006 article about the fundraiser.[28]

In November 2010, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation expressed concern about how Patrick Brown used his Canadian House of Commons account. He sent flyers to his riding which included a letter of support and a flyer from Barrie City Councillor Michael Prowse. Brown used his House of Commons account to pay for the mailing because Michael Prowse could not afford to send the flyer out himself.[29]

On September 26, 2012, Brown voted in favour of Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth's private member's bill to create a special committee to examine the legal definition of when a fetus becomes a human being,[30] which many argued would reopen the abortion debate in Canada. Brown did so, even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper voted against the bill and repeatedly said that Canadians do not want to reopen the abortion debate.[31][32] Brown has also stated that he does not intend to revisit the issue.[33]

Electoral record

2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Patrick Brown 32,121 56.69 +4.32
New Democratic Myrna Clark 11,846 20.91 +8.90
Liberal Colin Wilson 9,111 16.08 -7.80
Green Erich Jacoby-Hawkins 3,271 5.77 -5.33
Libertarian Darren Roskam 150 0.26 -0.23 –
Marxist–Leninist Christine Nugent 82 0.14 -0.02 –
Canadian Action Jeff Sakula 77 0.14 –
Total valid votes/Expense limit 56,651 100.00 –
Total rejected ballots 174 0.31 –
Turnout 56,825 60.70 – –

Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Conservative/row

Conservative hold Swing -2.29
2008 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Patrick Brown 27,927 52.37 +10.5 $91,512
Liberal Rick Jones 12,732 23.88 -15.3 $80,023
New Democratic Myrna Clark 6,403 12.01 -0.2 $16,038
Green Erich Jacoby-Hawkins 5,921 11.10 +4.3 $58,204
Libertarian Paolo Fabrizio 260 0.49 N/A $171
Marxist–Leninist Christine Anne Nugent 84 0.16 N/A $0
Total valid votes/Expense limit 53,327 100 $92,671
2006 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Patrick Brown 23,999 41.88 +1.8 $81,530
Liberal Aileen Carroll 22,476 39.18 -3.5 $69,313
New Democratic Peter Bursztyn 6,984 12.18 +1.5 $14,496
Green Erich Jacoby-Hawkins 3,874 6.76 +0.2 $19,036
2004 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Aileen Carroll 21,233 42.7
Conservative Patrick Brown 19,938 40.1
New Democratic Peter Bursztyn 5,312 10.7
Green Erich Jacoby-Hawkins 3,288 6.6

References

  1. ^ Coyle, Jim (2015-05-03). "Would-be Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown driven to win". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  2. ^ Brown, Patrick (2015-05-10). "Patrick Brown wins Ontario PC leadership race". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
  3. ^ "Barrie MP Patrick Brown to resign federal seat on Wednesday". CBC News. May 10, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  4. ^ "Former Colts join Hockey Night in Barrie lineup". Barrie Examiner. July 8, 2014. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  5. ^ "Election results...riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 29, 2004. p. A14. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  6. ^ "Election results...riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. January 24, 2006. p. A16. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  7. ^ "Ontario Results". The Toronto Star. October 15, 2008. p. U2. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  8. ^ Bowe, Raymond (May 3, 2011). "Brown wins third term". Barrie Examiner. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  9. ^ a b "Tory MP Patrick Brown joins Ontario PC leadership race". 2014-09-28. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  10. ^ "Rick Dykstra will not seek Ontario PC leadership bid". News Talk 610 CKTB Radio. September 12, 2014. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  11. ^ Morrow, Adrian (September 28, 2014). "Brown launches bid for Ontario PC leadership, promises 'fresh start'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  12. ^ Benzie, Robert; Ferguson, Rob; Brennan, Richard J. (May 9, 2015). "Patrick Brown wins Ontario PC leadership". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-05-10. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. ^ Benzie, Robert (2015-02-11). "Sparks fly at PC Debate over Patrick Brown's Lack of Seat". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  14. ^ McInroy, Ian (2015-09-28). "Brown seeking Ontario PC leadership". Barrie Examiner. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  15. ^ Benzie, Robert; Ferguson, Rob (2015-03-01). "Patrick Brown sells more than 40,000 Ontario PC memberships". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  16. ^ Chase, Sean (2015-03-29). "Patrick Brown promises to reset PC party". Daily Observer. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  17. ^ Maloney, Ryan (2015-04-14). "Patrick Brown Leads Christine Elliott In Ontario PC Leadership Race, Poll Suggests". The Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  18. ^ Matys, Frank (2015-04-21). "Patrick Brown: From long shot to front runner". Barrie Advance. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  19. ^ Benzie, Robert; Ferguson, Rob (2015-03-01). "Patrick Brown sells more than 40,000 Ontario PC memberships". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  20. ^ "Christine Elliott says she didn't know specifics of job cut plan". 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  21. ^ Fekete, Jason (2015-01-16). "Ontario PC leadership contender Patrick Brown has spotty voting attendance in Commons". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  22. ^ O'Malley, Kady (2015-01-22). "Patrick Brown does double duty as MP and Ontario PC leadership contender". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  23. ^ Elliot, Josh (2015-05-09). "Patrick Brown elected leader of Ontario PC party". CTVNews.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  24. ^ Fisher, Robert (2015-05-09). "Patrick Brown must reach out beyond PC Party faithful to challenge Liberals". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
  25. ^ "Photo of section from 2008 Hockey Night in Barrie Newsletter sent by Member of Parliament for Barrie, Patrick Brown".
  26. ^ Sweet, Stephen (August 13, 2010). "Hockey night a real winner". The Barrie Examiner. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  27. ^ Browne, Cheryl (November 13, 2004). "Pucks for Buck$". The Barrie Examiner.
  28. ^ Cruickshank, Nicki (April 16, 2006). "Royal Victoria Hospital fundraising takes centre ice". The Barrie Examiner.
  29. ^ Raj, Althia (2010-11-14). "Call for review of MPs' mailing privileges". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
  30. ^ "Vote #466 on September 26th, 2012". Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  31. ^ Payton, Laura (September 21, 2012). "'Human being' motion excuse to open abortion debate, MPs say". CBC News. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  32. ^ Payton, Laura (2012-09-26). "Motion to study when life begins defeated in Parliament". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  33. ^ Matys, Frank (2015-04-21). "Patrick Brown: From long shot to front runner". Barrie Advance. Retrieved 2015-04-22.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by President
Progressive Conservative Youth Federation
1998 – 2002 		Succeeded by
Keith Marlowe

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