After almost a full day of rumours that he was withdrawing, Patrick Brown announced late Monday afternoon he is pulling out of the race to become leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives.
In a statement posted to his twitter page, Brown said he was quitting the race to focus on his libel suit against CTV, which broke allegations of sexual misconduct against him last month that he says are now discredited.
“I also did not want to allow CTV's slanderous reporting to jeopardize my mission, and that of 100,000+ PC party members, to implement the moderate, responsible fiscally conservative policies put forward in (the Tories's policy document),” Brown wrote.
It is too difficult, he said, to work to clear his name and run to be the party leader at the same time, and he was becoming a distraction to his party's goal of winning the June provincial election.
He praised all the leadership candidates running to replace him and urged them to stick with a moderate conservative message to defeat Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Brown also revealed his family has been subjected to attacks, which he said crossed a line.
“I can take a punch,” he wrote, “but it stings when it is unfairly directed at the people I love instead of me.”
Brown resigned as Tory leader in late January after CTV News reported allegations of sexual misconduct that he has vehemently denied. He launched a bid to reclaim his old job earlier this month, saying he helped grow the party to unprecedented levels and should be the one to lead it into the province's spring election.
Brown has, however, been dogged by allegations of mismanagement and corruption, including from within his own party.
On Monday, the province's integrity commissioner, J. David Wake, said he would probe allegations regarding Brown that had been made by Tory MPP Randy Hillier.
Last week, Hillier asked Wake to look into Brown's financial disclosures and international travel during his time as party leader, alleging he contravened legislation that governs Ontario politicians' conduct. Hillier alleged Brown "engaged in dirty and crooked politics" and called him a "liar."
Since joining the leadership race, Brown has spent the past week touring the province campaigning and meeting with supporters. He has also faced mounting pressure to drop out of the contest, including calls from Tory leadership candidate Caroline Mulroney for him to quit and focus on clearing his name.
"This is a leadership race for the future of our party and Patrick Brown needs to step aside,'' Mulroney said last week. "He needs to put the party above himself.''
Mulroney, a Toronto lawyer and daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, called on her fellow competitors — former legislator Christine Elliott, former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford and parental rights advocate Tanya Granic Allen —to join her call for Brown to drop out
Ontario's Progressive Conservatives will begin voting for their next leader online on March 2. The winner of the race will be announced March 10 in Markham.
– files from Canadian press
