Press Room

PC Policy Convention is a sham – Brown admits to scuttling member-submitted policies

Toronto, October 12, 2017 – For months, Patrick Brown has suffered humiliating media scrutiny over allegations of rigged PC nomination elections, including stuffing of ballot boxes.

The image of Brown as a vote-tampering “cheater” has now been cemented with his own admission that he scuttled socially conservative policies, along with those opposed to carbon taxes, which were submitted fair and square by grassroots PC members, in accordance with party procedure through the forontario.ca website.

“Brown lied to party members, leading them to believe they would be able to vote on and ‘author’ the platform they want,” said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition. “He did exactly what he promised not to. He wrote the policy platform in a backroom at Queen’s Park, just like Tim Hudak and John Tory, and is now trying to fool members into thinking they will have a genuine vote when all he’s giving them is an illusion – to choose from amongst his own predetermined favourite policies”.

Campaign Life Coalition’s Ontario President, Mary Ellen Douglas, called on PC members to “publicly excoriate Brown for rigging the voteable slate of policies to exclude submissions he didn’t personally like, but which nonetheless had broad support amongst grassroots members. Like the policy resolution to repeal the Liberal sex ed curriculum which we know for a fact had been submitted by dozens, if not hundreds of card-carrying PC members, probably making it the most popular idea submitted.” Douglas said other policies were “filtered” including one to remove OHIP funding of sex-selective abortions.

At his first PC Convention as Leader, held in Ottawa on March 5, 2016 Brown had promised in a video statement that: “Gone are the days that we have a small group at Queen's Park in the backroom that writes our platform… I want our membership, our stakeholders, to be the authors of our next platform”

“Brown’s corrupt handling of the convention vote shouldn’t be a concern only for social and anti-carbon tax conservatives”, said Jack Fonseca, Campaign Life’s political strategist. “How can economic conservatives, democratic conservatives, or any member of the voting public for that matter trust a man so willing to cheat his own membership out of a fair vote? Just imagine how corrupt he could become with the power of the Premiership.”

Campaign Life Coalition is now mobilizing to implement specific strategies to wrest control of the party back from Brown, and give it back to the grassroots members.

About Campaign Life Coalition
Campaign Life Coalition is a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life and the family. It is non-partisan and encourages voting based on principles, not party. For more information visit www.campaignlifecoalition.com

Media Contacts:
Jack Fonseca, Senior Political Strategist, Campaign Life Coalition: 416-204-9781, email: [email protected]
Jeff Gunnarson, Vice President, Campaign Life Coalition: 416-204-9749 ext. 249, email: [email protected]

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