Patrick Brown (politician)

For other people of the same name, see Patrick Brown (disambiguation).

Patrick Brown MPP
Leader of the Opposition in Ontario
Incumbent
Assumed office September 14, 2015
Preceded by	Jim Wilson
Leader of the Ontario PC Party
Incumbent
Assumed office May 9, 2015
Preceded by	Jim Wilson (interim)
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Simcoe North
Incumbent
Assumed office September 3, 2015
Preceded by	Garfield Dunlop
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Barrie
In office January 23, 2006 – May 13, 2015
Preceded by	Aileen Carroll
Succeeded by	Riding Abolished
Personal details
Born	Patrick Walter Brown (1978-05-26) May 26, 1978 Toronto, Ontario
Political party	Provincial: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (2015-Present) Federal: Conservative Party of Canada (2003-2015)
Relations	Joe Tascona (uncle)
Residence	Barrie, Ontario
Alma mater	University of Windsor (LL.B.) University of Toronto (B.A.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic

Patrick Walter Brown, MPP (born May 26, 1978) is a Canadian politician. He is the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and was a federal Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2006 to 2015 who represented the riding of Barrie. On May 9, 2015, Brown was elected leader of the Ontario PC Party. He was elected Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Simcoe North in a provincial by-election on September 3, 2015. Brown is Ontario's Leader of the Official Opposition.

Background

Brown is the nephew of Joe Tascona, a Barrie Progressive Conservative MPP in the Mike Harris government. Additionally, Brown is the son of Edmond, a lawyer and former New Democratic Party candidate. He graduated from St. Michael's College School, a private Catholic school in Toronto, and attended the Toronto Speech and Stuttering Institute. He studied political science at the University of Toronto, and 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 was criticized 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). He has also represented Canada on a number of international assistance projects hosted by the IYDU.

Hockey Night in Barrie

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.

Politics

Political views

Brown characterizes himself as a 'pragmatic conservative' and has noted his support from labour unions.

During his Ontario PC Party leadership campaign, Brown was noted for his social conservatism, and his criticism of Ontario's sex education in schools. However, since his victory he has been successful in pushing the Ontario PC Party towards the "political centre." Patrick Brown would go on to become the first Ontario PC Leader to march in the Toronto Pride Parade. At his first Ontario PC Convention as Leader, Brown boldly affirmed his belief in anthropogenic climate change and announced his support for a revenue-neutral price on carbon.

His new progressivism, stands in contrast to his voting record from a decade ago. In December 2006, as an MP, Brown voted to repeal same-sex marriage in Canada. Brown also voted against several bills between 2011 and 2013, which were aimed at amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender expression and identity, and the Criminal Code, to prevent discrimination.

Patrick Brown's first Private Member's Bill in the Ontario Legislature, Bill 151 the Estate Administration Tax Abolition Act, was an attempt to eliminate the death tax. His bill was voted down at Second Reading by the Liberal Government's majority.

His critics have called him 'policy-lite' since he made no policy statements during the Progressive Conservative leadership campaign. Since winning the Leadership, he has focused his plan on four key pillars which he suggests will lead to a more "prosperous province"; less red tape, improved transportation corridors, affordable energy, and addressing Ontario's growing skills gap. As Leader he kick-started the largest grassroots policy consultation process in the Ontario PC Party's history. The cornerstone of the policy process is a website, ForOntario.ca, where anyone can input their suggestions for policy to be included in the 2018 election platform.

Municipal politics

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

Brown was seen as a very active member of council, serving on various Committees, including the Budget Committee. Brown's primary focus while on council was health care, despite it being a provincial responsibility. In response to a shortage of doctors, Brown founded the Physician Recruitment Task Force with the Royal Victoria Hospital to help attract more doctors to Barrie.

Federal politics

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

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. Fellow Ontario MP Rick Dykstra endorsed him.

Provincial politics

See also: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election, 2015

In September 2014, Brown announced his intention to run in the contest to replace PC Party Leader, Tim Hudak. From the outset of his campaign, Brown positioned himself as an outsider, challenging the leadership of the PC Party, which had been defeated 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 considered "ill-advised", despite attending the announcement in his home riding. Brown's rivals attempted to use this same lack of previous involvement in provincial politics as an argument against his leadership bid.

In March, Brown emerged as the front-runner in the leadership election, having sold over 40,000 of the 70,000 memberships in the party. During the campaign, Brown was successful in bringing many new members to the party. The past four leadership contests had been won by those who sold the most memberships.

Brown was endorsed by the Campaign Life Coalition and the Ontario Landowners Association. During Brown's leadership bid both special interest groups actively supported him by selling Ontario PC Party memberships amongst their members.

Brown was criticized by his rivals and in the media for not resigning his federal seat during the 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 Conservative Party caucus and of any MP between September to December 2014. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed 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."

The campaign started with five candidates including Vic Fedeli, Lisa MacLeod, and Monte McNaughton. All three withdrew in early 2015 citing membership recruitment or financial reasons. On May 9, 2015, Brown was elected leader, defeating his only remaining opponent, Christine Elliott, winning with 61.8% of the membership vote.

Brown, who resigned his seat in the House of Commons on May 13, 2015, days after winning the provincial leadership, led the Progressive Conservative party from outside the legislature during most of the summer. On July 22, 2015, Garfield Dunlop agreed to step down as MPP for Simcoe North on August 1 in order to open up a seat for Brown. A provincial by-election, called for September 3, 2015, was won by Brown.

Controversy

Charity

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, 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". 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. A November 13, 2004 article confirms Corson's involvement in the November 19, 2004 edition of the fundraiser, but makes no mention of Brown. Brown is mentioned, as a participant, in an April 16, 2006 article about the fundraiser.

Spending

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.

Electoral record

Ontario provincial by-election, September 3, 2015: Simcoe North Resignation of Garfield Dunlop
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Patrick Brown	21,095	53.68	+9.74
	Liberal	Fred Larsen	9,281	23.62	–8.90
	New Democratic	Elizabeth Van Houtte	6,637	16.89	+1.34
	Green	Valerie Powell	1,791	4.56	–3.43
	New Reform	James Gault	200	0.51	–
	People's Political Party	Kevin Clarke	146	0.37	–
	Libertarian	Darren Roskam	104	0.26	–
	Pauper	John Turmel	47	0.12	–
Total valid votes			39,301	100.0
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			170	0.43
Turnout			39,471	40.71
Eligible voters			96,950
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+9.32
Source(s)  Elections Ontario (2015). "Official Returns from the Records, 086 Simcoe North" (PDF). Retrieved 17 November 2015.

Canadian federal election, 2011
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	–	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		-2.29

Canadian federal election, 2008
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

Canadian federal election, 2006
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

Canadian federal election, 2004
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

External links

• Patrick Brown – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca

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