By: Surjit Singh Flora
Photo: Surjit Singh Flora
Confusion and amazement ruled the day in Brampton Wednesday, as city councillors scrambled to respond to allegations after a planned weekly council meeting was scrapped in the wake of Mayor Patrick Brown’s leadership bid for the federal Conservatives being dashed.
After canceling its fourth straight meeting, council said in a statement that it will not meet again for an undetermined amount of time.
“At the direction of the mayor and in accordance with the Procedure By-law, the regular City Council meeting scheduled for July 6 has been canceled because the City is still waiting for legal clarification on the selection of the replacement Member of Council,” the City said in a statement.
The announcement came in the wake of word from the Conservative election committee announcing Tuesday night that Brown had been disqualified from the leadership race, allegedly due to improprieties with regards to campaign fundraising.
Citing the allegations, a group of five Brampton councillors released a statement Wednesday morning referring to a “clear and alarming pattern of behaviour” regarding matters of financial concern at the City.
The first three city council meetings were canceled because Brown and four councillors didn’t show up to vote on former Coun. Elaine Moore’s appointment on May 31. This was two days before the provincial election, in which now-former Wards 7 and 8 Coun. Charmaine Williams was elected MPP for Brampton Centre.
After Brown cancelled the meeting, several councillors, including Martin Medeiros, Pat Fortini, Jeff Bowman, Gurpreet Dhillon and Doug Whillans, organized a press conference and stated Brampton was “in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons because of Brown.”
“Patrick Brown must choose between Brampton and politics,” the group, led by Medeiros, said during the conference.
While the Conservative Party of Canada investigated election fraud charges that led to Patrick Brown’s disqualification, Brampton councillors investigated allegations of financial problems, nepotism and suspected backroom contract violations during his bid — including a video shot by media outlet Rebel Media that alleges several members of Brown’s entourage, including his chief of staff and at least one assistant, among several other City of Brampton staffers, were working on his campaign bid out of a nondescript office in Vaughan.
“This is a worrying trend… we expected CPC’s decision,” the group said in a collective statement.
In recent weeks, the councillors claim, top officials informed them that $629,000 in contracts went to a business that employed one of Brown’s closest political supporters and a close friend of Rowena Santos. Employees went on to tell the councillors that most of the supporter’s job was never done, despite Brown’s previous staff giving them taxpayer money. Other contracts allegedly went to Brown’s aides, the group continued, including unqualified people close to Brown, many in Conservative circles, who received senior staff jobs and other contracts.
After being thrown out of the federal Conservative leadership contest and having another Brampton city council meeting canceled, some have quietly advised Brown to retire from politics, the group explained, alleging that, “Brown must resign (because) Brampton is chaotic,” with some councillors, including Medeiros, even claiming that Brown was conducting matters related to his leadership bid from his office at City Hall.
Brown countered Wednesday, in statements made to the media, that internal sabotage from the federal Conservatives and fellow candidate Pierre Poilievre, were to blame for the decision to oust him from the leadership race, while also commenting on the controversy at Brampton City Hall as a “sad attempt by a group of councillors following their unprecedented and contrary motion” to replace Moore with a handpicked candidate.
Councillors say it’s time for Brown to step away from official Brampton responsibilities since he’s involved in political infighting unrelated to municipal operations. Medeiros said the cancellation of municipal council sessions has also slowed Brampton’s daily operations.
“Backroom agendas have trumped governance in Brampton,” stated Medeiros. “Brown should consider how this affects Brampton and our work.”
Brown, Santos, Paul Vicente, Michael Palleschi and Harkirat Singh have canceled all public Council sessions since the discoveries.
Brown told reporters Wednesday that there was “no due process,” claiming that his team doesn’t know who made the accusations.
“This campaign did nothing wrong, I promise.” said Brown, who denied city personnel worked on his campaign during office hours.
Locally, Brown argues the division at council is warranted since opponents aren’t following the procedures for replacing Charmaine Williams’ empty council seat in Brampton Centre.
Brown “puts our excellent city in the national limelight for all the wrong reasons,” said Medeiros.
Brown’s legal team is examining his exclusion from the leadership election and will consider next steps. If he can’t lead the federal Conservatives, he’ll seek re-election as mayor of Brampton.
