The Patrick Brown campaign had a tough call last night.
Patrick spoke with hundreds of supporters from across the country.
Canadians of all religions, backgrounds and communities who joined the campaign to build a modern, inclusive Conservative
Party. Many had never joined the Conservative Party before. They didn’t see themselves in the party, they didn’t feel they would be listened to, they didn’t think they’d have a voice around the table.
But they embraced the vision the campaign put forward. They took a leap of faith that Patrick was sincere in his commitment – the party he would lead would look like Canada. That it didn’t matter what God you worshipped, what colour your skin was, who you loved or what you wear. People who had been voiceless before would have a voice.
So it was devastating to hear the heartbreak that this dream was dying. That the campaign was disqualified from the leadership race through a flawed process that seemed designed only to prevent these new voices from assuming their rightful position of influence within the party and to protect an old network that had always run things and were bound and determined to continue running things.
This is not a path forward for the Conservative Party of Canada. This is a path to irrelevance. The Brown campaign will continue to pursue all legal options before it. We have some of the best lawyers in Canada working for us. There is a strong likelihood, however, this won’t succeed before the vote.
If that is the case, Patrick has been clear he would support any new leader of the CPC except Pierre Poilievre. If it comes to that, he will be voting for Jean Charest. He encouraged his supporters to stay involved, do their research and make their own choice for next leader of the party.
He has high regard for Dr Leslyn Lewis who he considers a friend and has worked with provincially. He also has great admiration for Scott Aitcheson who has put forward many policy positions, such as supporting LGBTQ2 and fighting Bill 21 in Quebec, he supports. But at the end of the day Jean Charest has the best chance to stop Pierre Polievre extremism.
But killing our campaign does not kill the vision we have for the party. And we will succeed eventually.
So many of you put your hearts, your souls and countless hours into this campaign. And this is not how we want it to end.
But this is an obstacle, not a finish.
Because our vision of the party is the right one. And we will continue, with love in our hearts and fire in our souls, to fight to see it triumph. And we will.
Thank you all so much.
The Brown campaign
