Ontario PC leadership candidate Patrick Brown counter-attacks Christine Elliott on transparency and numbers

The Patrick Brown Campaign released the following today:

Late yesterday, Christine Elliott's campaign team released a statement claiming to be “in the best position to win” after “analyzing" the PC Party of Ontario’s full membership list, just 30 minutes after the list was released to the campaigns.

We appreciate the Elliott campaign team’s decision to share the “findings” from its “detailed”, though remarkably rapid, “analysis.” However, we have to wonder when, if ever, they will allow the PC Party of Ontario to release their total number of memberships sold.  Patrick Brown has repeatedly called for the Party to release his membership numbers.  Recently, another candidate did the same.  Unfortunately, the Party is unable to do so.  Only the Elliott campaign stands in the way of transparency and truth; in fact, we understand they went so far as to send a lawyer’s letter to PC Party Headquarters to ensure the facts never come out.  Elliott herself confirmed the existence of the letter.  One has to wonder why.

"There is a pattern of behaviour here,” said Mark Towhey, Executive Director of the Patrick Brown Leadership Campaign. “The team behind Ms. Elliott seems routinely to struggle to discern fact from fiction, releasing first one set of numbers, then another and ultimately refusing to allow facts to be released so members can judge the truth for themselves.” 

For its part, the Brown campaign will stick with the facts.  It has signed up over 40,410 members – a number that, unlike the numbers of some campaigns — hasn’t changed with the wind.  This does not include the growing number of pre-existing members who have grown tired of the Elliott campaign’s same old, same old tricks and have pledged their support and their financial contributions to Patrick Brown.  

“We’ve got over 40,410 members signed up for Patrick,” said Robert Stanley, Campaign Manager.  “We know who they are and we know where they live.  They’re well-distributed among all 107 ridings in Ontario, including the North and the GTA where we haven’t seen many Elliott supporters.  In fact, we have a very sizeable number of supporters in Whitby.  And, of course, we’d welcome more."

76,736 - 40,410 - 10,000 = 26,326

For his part, Patrick Brown remains focused on the actual work of rebuilding a PC Party of Ontario that has suffered greatly over the past decade under the same old, same old leadership.

“I’d like to thank the Party staff for their hard work over the last four weeks as they sorted through the vast amount of memberships,” said Patrick Brown, speaking from Kingston, Ontario where he is on his third tour of the province since beginning his leadership campaign. 

“I am absolutely thrilled to see we’ve grown the PC Party of Ontario from 10,000 members before the leadership race began to 76,736 members today,” added Brown.  "I’d like to congratulate all four of the other candidates who, together, have added up to 26,326 new memberships to the more than 40,410 my own team brought in.  That’s great work and great news for our Party.  We’re now more than three-quarters of the way to the goal I set for the Party during the Sudbury debate in November.”