Patrick Brown
Patrick Walter Brown (born May 26, 1978) is a Canadian politician and former Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the riding of Simcoe North. Brown was Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and Ontario's Leader of the Official Opposition from May 2015 to January 2018. He is currently running for Mayor of Brampton in the 2018 municipal election.
Brown's political career began when he served on the Barrie City Council in the early 2000s. From 2006 until 2015, Brown was a federal Conservative member of the House of Commons representing the riding of Barrie. In May 2015, Brown was elected leader of the Ontario PC Party, and stepped down as MP. He then won a provincial by-election on September 3, 2015, in Simcoe North and entered the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
In January 2018, two women accused Brown of sexual misconduct during the time he was a federal MP. Brown denied the allegations, but resigned as party leader hours later. Interim PC leader Vic Fedeli expelled Brown from the party caucus on February 16, 2018, and Brown on that same day registered to run for the PC leadership once again. On February 21, Brown passed the PC Party's Provincial Nominations Committee vetting process. On February 26, Brown withdrew from the leadership race, stating that he wanted to focus on clearing his name. Brown became the first permanent Ontario Conservative leader who did not lead the party into an election since George Frederick Marter. On March 15, 2018, Patrick Brown announced via Twitter that he would not be running in the new riding of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte.