Welcome to Canada, where Omar Khadr has more rights than Patrick Brown....

Ontario pay attention, you are about to witness the complete and utter hijacking of democracy in this province.  Word is out that the committe charged with green lighting candidates for the leadership of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party, that they are going to deny Patrick Brown permission to run for the position of party leader.

Canadian tax payers handed $10.5 million over to Omar Khadr.  Why?  Because as a citizen of this country (Omar is and was a Canadian born citizen) our federal government failed in its duties to protect his constitutional and charter rights.  From a legal perspective it was the right decision, no matter how distasteful it may have been.  Canadian citizens have rights, even if they are taken by their father to a foreign country to engage in a war against Canadian troops.

Omar Khadr has rights, but not Patrick Brown....at least accordinig to Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party if they prevent Mr. Brown from running for the party's leadership.

CTV news tossed its journalistic ethics into the trash bin by reporting a story that they hadn't fact checked.  They failed to disclose relationships between the accusers and CTV reporters.  They failed to report conflicting testimony from other individuals refuting the claims of the anonymous accusers.  Patrick Brown was left twisting in the wind by senior members of the PC Party and was forced to debunk these slanderous allegations all on his own.

He has done that and more, forcing CTV to withdraw key elements of its story and shining a light on the testimony of other individuals present. He even subjected himself to two polygraph tests, one done by a renowned expert with 40 years experience.  The verdict, that Patrick Brown exceeded all standards of truthfulness.  

Enough.

Any fair minded person can see that Patrick Brown has opened up not just "reasonable" doubt, but an absolute MOUNTAIN of doubt.  He has pointedly told those making these accusations, that if they genuinely believe their stories have merit, to report it to the police.  He even provided the phone number to call.  They haven't.

Patrick Brown has cleared his name.

Now, will the PC Party of Ontario do for Patrick Brown what Canada's federal Liberal government did for Omar Khadr?  Will they recongnize the unjust treatment their former leader has been subjected to and allow him to put his name forward as a candidate for leadership of the party?  Will the committee charged with green lighting candidates allow PC Party members to pass final judgement?  Or will they rob party members of their democratic right as well?

If you're as angry as I am at this injustice there will be a rally Tues February 20th, that's today, at PC Party Headquarters, the address is 59 Adelaide Street East Toronto.  Supporters will be gathering at 6:30 PM. 

If you care about democracy and can make it please come.

Patrick Brown cleared his name and joined the leadership race...

Okay, first things first, full disclosure. 

I do not know Patrick Brown, I have never met the man.  Likewise I do not know and have never met any of the other leadership candidates.  I have also taken out a one year membership in the PC Party of Ontario, something I did before Patrick Brown announced his intention to once again seek the leadership.  

If only CTV had been as forthcoming when they decided to run a story about two anonymous individuals accusing the former party leader of sexual misconduct this leadership race might never have taken place. 

Instead they decided against disclosing that both anonymous accusers had relationships with CTV reporters.  But then the story might have raised some eyebrows and slowed the rush to judgment that ensued. 

Patrick Brown was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion within hours of the story hitting the airways.  But since then he has become a sympathetic figure, and one garnering a lot of public support.  An on-line petition with close to 15,000 signatures backing him, a letter of support signed by 100 women from his home riding in Simcoe County. 

And now that he's tossed his hat into the ring to once again lead Ontario's PC Party in the upcoming June election he has completely cleared his name in this humble blogger's opinion.  If you don't know the details I invite you to read the blog post I wrote last week:

I stand with Patrick Brown - Here's why I'll be voting for him

Unfortunately I might not be allowed to vote for the individual I want leading the party, along with many others.

A comittee in charge of green lighting leadership candidates may pick up one final and substantial dagger and thrust it firmly into Mr Brown's chest.  At least it won't be in the back, as happened when CTV News aired its horribly researched story.  Reporting incredibly filled with false accusations so agregious they were forced to backpedal so fast they nearly tumbled ass over tea kettle. 

Caroline Mulroney's stated desire to have Mr. Brown disqualified, it looks like she might have some on the nomination comittee who are sympathetic to her point of view.  What a shock.

Why are people like me so wrapped up in this story and convinced that Patrick Brown has cleared his name?  Who hasn't been the victim of a smear campaign?  There's a promotion coming up and everyone knows Shelia is the leading candidate for the position.  "Is Shelia taking another one of her two hour lunches"?  The question is offered on a crowded elevator within earshot of some senior management. 

We've all seen it, anyone who has worked in a company that promotes from within and has more than five employees I would bet has seen something of this sort played out.  Its dirty and sadly it often works.  Why do you think companies so often go outside when looking to fill senior promotions, because it eliminates the dirty political games.

Of course this isn't someone hoping to get chosen for some middle managment position, the stakes are a lot higher.  So high they've even attracted Caroline Mulroney, a political neophyte who's never held any elected position in this country that I'm aware of.  Maybe she was in one of Michael Ignatieff's classes at Harvard and was voted top student or something, I don't know. 

Let me get back to my stated view that Patrick Brown has cleared his name.  Some disagree, I know that there are people who still see the Barrie politician as being under a cloud of suspicion.  The single most common reason for doubt I hear being punted is. 

Why did he resign if he wasn't guilty?

Ah yes, the resignation.  After stating his intention to stay on in a hastily called press scrum he later was involved in a phone conference in which he was repeatedly told that he "had to" resign.  With absolutely no support from the PC Party elites present, he basically told them to draw up a resignation letter.  They did one better, they drafted it and released it, assuming that he would sign it...he told them to write it up after all. 

I have not seen a resignation letter with Mr. Brown's signature on it, and if one in fact existed I fully expect it would have been published far and wide by those anxious to put the final nail in the coffin of his political career and reputation.

Perhaps he could have fought it, but he decided to do one better.  He registered to run for the leadership again, to let party members have the final say.  The allegations of his accusers have already been shot full of holes with more than just a reasonable doubt, but a moutain of doubt.  

I'm going to end this latest blog post now....the question remains of whether the powers within the PC party will even allow Mr. Brown's leadership bid to go forward.  We shall see if Ontario's Conservatives are what they claim to be, a party of the people, of its card carrying members.  If they truly believe in democracy they'll let Patrick Brown run and then leave it up to the membership to decide who they want leading the party.  

I stand with Patrick Brown - Here's why I'll be voting for him...

If you're a political junkie like me, then you're no doubt hooked on what's happening with the Patrick Brown story.  I'm all over this like Doug Ford's little brother on a crack pipe.

Patrick Brown, left for dead....the knives still stuck in his back with nobody in the party with the guts to take a chance and offer him their support.  The all powerful #MeToo movment convincing them to toss their leader into the political graveyard where he was supposed to die.  

But he didn't die, it took him some time to get his strength back of course.  Understandable after he had just seen everything he'd worked at for his entire adult life go up in smoke.  All because of two anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct that he refuted in the strongest possible terms right from the start.  

The first allegation has been shot full of holes.  It was a lurid tale, an older politician trolling the bars, plying a high school girl with drinks.  Having a friend drive her to his house, luring her to his second floor bedroom and then closing the door, dropping his pants and demanding oral sex...."suck my ###" or "put this in your mouth".  Disgusting if true.  Getting a high schooler drunk and having a buddy drive her to your house....what a scum bag.

But then it all started falling apart.  Patrick Brown didn't live in a two storey house when his accuser was in high school, he lived in a one floor open concept apartment flat with no bedroom door to close, and the friend who allegedly drove her to the house says that categorically never happened.  

CTV obviously never investigated to make sure the details of the alleged incident were accurate.  Perhaps there wasn't time to do the required leg work if the objective was to get the story out and still leave time to replace Patrick with a new leader.  Forced to back pedal CTV updated its story, with the accusser now saying she might have gotten the collateral details messed up...but the rest she maintains happened.

Complicating the matter further is that this first accuser was a housemate of a CTV reporter, really bad optics there.  

And even worse, the second accuser is friends with CTV's Rachel Aiello who worked on the story.  This second accuser, a recently released reporter with Ottawa's 'The Hill Times', claims she was lured into Patrick Brown's bedroom.  However conflicting accounts from others present at the time of the allegations claim she was cozying up all night to Mr Brown, all googly eyed and then followed him upstairs after he'd gone into his bedroom.  

While in the bedroom the accuser's story is that Patrick Brown kissed and climbed on top of her.  She says she told him to stop and drive her home, which she says he did.  Patrick Brown's account is that she in fact kissed him and that he then said he was driving her home.  

Oh what a tangled web we weave.  What really happened?  We may never know, but given the conflicting accounts from those who were there, there is more than just a reasonable doubt in my mind.  As Patrick Brown has said, if the individuals behind these claims truly believe their stories, then go to the police and report it.  

Add the fact that the former and possibly future leader of the party subjected himself to a polygraph test in an effort to bolster his claim to innocence.  And he didn't just get someone from the yellow pages to hook him up to a lie detector, it was done by John Galianos, a professional with some 40 years experience in administering these tests.  He was recently employed by CBC's 'The Fifth Estate" for their Barry Sherman investigation.  

Here's a link to the exclusive story:  

http://torontosun.com/news/provincial/exclusive-patrick-brown-passed-lie-detector-test

Patrick Brown should be under no more a cloud of suspicion than the man moderating the debates, TVO media star Steve Paikin.  Both Mr Paikin and Mr Brown are the subject of sexual misconduct allegations, however Mr. Paikin was allowed to remain in his position while his government employer hires a 3rd party to investigate the allegations made against him.

So yes, Patrick Brown has my support.  The PC Party put forward a platform under his leadership called "The People's Guarentee" which was crafted after extensive consultation starting at the grass roots.  Maybe that's what irritates some of the PC elites, perhaps they're used to crafting party policy on their own and then selling it to the membership instead of the other way around.  

Is it perfect?  Of course not, this is politics and when you consult you take everything in, and obviously not everyone is going to like everything.  If you want to know what's in it, surprise surprise....its still up on the Party's own website.  While Doug, Caroline and Christine have been busy trying to take over the store nobody bothered to check what's on the shelf:

https://www.ontariopc.ca/peoplesguarantee

With that plan in front of Ontario voters the PC's were poised to assume control of Queen's Park in June according to polls.  Now there are 4 candidates who are flying by the seat of their pants, saying they'd scrap the platform...willing to risk being labeled as a party without a plan.  

Supporting Patrick Brown's bid to reclaim the leadership is one thing, but the bigger question is do I think he'll win the leadership.  To be perfectly honest, I do not like his chances.  Not with a media empire like Bell Media on the attack.  

CP24, a Bell Media property, had a pit bull reporter hounding Mr. Brown as he announced his bid outside party offices.  The narrative this Bell Media affiliate kept trying to push was that Patrick Brown would be a distraction to the bigger goal of uniting the party and defeating Premier Wynne's Liberals.  

PUH-LEASE!!!!  

You want a distraction?  Is Doug Ford's high school illegal drug dealing reported in the Globe & Mail a distraction?  

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/globe-investigation-the-ford-familys-history-with-drug-dealing/article12153014/

Is Ben Mulroney's employment as a CTV Bell Media star a distraction given the hatchet job CTV News did on Patrick Brown?

Christine Elliot is my second choice.  I'm very suspicious of the Mulroney CTV connection, but I don't see anything of that sort with Ms Elliot, and until Patrick Brown joined the race she was my first choice.  But she would be going into an election as a rookie leader with no platform to put before Ontario voters, and if it wasn't for CTV's shitty reporting she wouldn't even be running right now.  Call it fruit from the poison tree.

Good luck Mr. Brown, I'll be rooting for you.  Its David versus Goliath without a doubt, and this blog won't help much but I hope it does some good.  Realistically though I know Canadian Soapbox is a fart in a hurricane, and CTV News and other Bell Media properties can blow a lot harder than an obscure little blogger.  

CTV News - The Donald Trump of Canadian journalism

CTV News has announced that they, "stand behind their reporting" of the Patrick Brown story and that attacks on their journalistic practices are, "groundless and wrong".

Really?  

They can stand behind their reporting all they like but they don't get to decide if criticism of their journalistic practices is without merit any more than Patrick Brown got to decide if the allegations against him were true or not.  

CTV is starting to seriously sound like U.S. president Donald Trump in trying to defend its tarnished reputation.  Donald loves to express views about himself and present them as fact, saying ridiculous things like: "Nobody understands women's issues better than me, nobody".  And he'll frequently double down on his absurd assertions by punctuating them with something stupid like: "And everybody knows it".  

Does CTV deserve the criticism that's coming their way?  Go onto social media and you'll see CTV getting lambasted for everything from ethics to simple fact checking.  I share the view that this Bell Media division has seriously damaged the reputation of MSM news outlets in Canada.  

It would help if CTV's news director would issue an apology for the shoddy job that was done on this story, but that's likely coming just after 'The Donald' announces that his wanting a big military parade was the result of a lapse in judgement.

What do consumers of news expect from responsible news outlets?  Its pretty simple, report the facts.  If someone calls in with a story about a robbery on Second Avenue and Main Street at the Piggly Wiggly, make sure the details are right.  If there isn't a store of that name at that location, do some digging.  

And don't take sides in the stories being reported, again...just present the facts.  It is up to individuals to make their own judgements.  If a reporter has a conflict of interest that could influence their reporting, then remove that individual from the story and have someone else do the job.   Or at minimum state the bias up front so that consumers are aware of the potential for bias.

And finally, present both sides.  When reporting on allegations with no third party witnesses give both accuser and accused the opportunity to present their side of the story. 

So how did CTV botch the Patrick Brown story?  Number one, they got the facts wrong.  

The individual who claimed Patrick Brown met her in a bar where she was drinking underage while still a high school student, she apparently got her dates mixed up.  I'm not faulting the woman for having a faulty memory, the alleged event took place around 10 years ago.  Its entirely possible that what she said of the misconduct is true, but that she simply wasn't 100% sure of the time frame.  

Sadly for the accuser, this seriously undermines the credibility of the allegations, and the fault lies entirely with CTV News.  Had CTV been thorough in their investigation they would discovered that Patrick Brown was not living in a 2 storey house with an upstairs bedroom when the alleged events are said to have taken place.  

Again, I am not questioning the veracity of the allegations here, but I am going to criticize CTV for not checking the facts.  Because they didn't do their job the individual making these accusations has had her credibility questioned.  This is what should have happened before the story went to air in my view:

CTV to accuser:  We looked into the details of your accusation, and it turns out Patrick Brown was not living in a two storey house at the time you say he took you to a second floor bedroom, closed the door and demanded oral sex.  At that time he was living in a one floor open concept subdivided duplex with no upstairs and no bedroom door.  Is it possible it happened at a later date, after you were no longer in high school?  

The conflict of interest involving reporter Rachel Aiello is even more damning in my view.  It is now a well known fact that Ms. Aiello and the constituency worker who claims Patrick Brown climbed on top of her and kissed her without consent, that these two individuals worked together at Ottawa's 'The Hill Times'.  In fact there are pictures now being shared all over social media that suggest the reporter and her source are in point of fact friends.  

There are two possibilities here as I see it.  It may be that Ms. Aiello never disclosed her relationship to her superiors.  If that is the case, then this goes beyond a simple mistake.  The other possibility is that Ms. Aiello did disclose the relationship with this source, and that her editors decided not to disclose it.  Either way it seriously damages the credibility of this story, and reflects very badly on the ethics of CTV News in the opinion of many who are now criticising CTV.  

Now that the relationship is well known CTV is claiming that they took measures to ensure there wasn't contact between their reporter and the anonymous source.  But its too late now, the damage is done and excuses after the fact won't take that away.  

And finally we're left with the fact that CTV did not give Patrick Brown any chance to respond to the allegations before the story hit the airwaves. Responsible journalism involves reporting, not just one point of view in these "she said, he said" situations, but both sides.  Failing to report on conflicting accounts from others present at the time of the alleged incidents seriously erodes CTV's professional reputation in the eyes of many news consumers.

What CTV News needs to do, if they care about repairing the damage to their image and brand, is to acknoweldge the mistakes they made and to commit to better reporting going forward.  Failing to do so will only lend credibility to Patrick Brown's allegations that this was a politically motivated hit job designed to remove him from his job as PC Party leader.  

With Caroline Mulroney being a candidate and the brother of a CTV media star, the optics here are so bad that any reasonable and fair minded PC Party member should immediately eliminate her from consideration in the upcoming leadership vote in my opinion.