Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown does not rule out a return to municipal politics if the Conservative leadership race “reaches a point where it looks like Pierre (Poliever) will win.”
“But I don’t think we’re close to that point,” Brown told The West Block in an interview with Mercedes Stevenson.
“I still believe we can win this leadership. I continue to believe that we can beat Pierre Poalievre and make sure that we really have the capacity to beat Justin Trudeau in the next election.
Read more: 2 Ontario MPs change allegiance from Brown to Poaliever in Conservative leadership race
Municipal election time is awkward for Brown, who has been mayor of Brampton since 2018 and continues to play that role as he seeks conservative leadership. The deadline to be announced as a candidate for the Brampton mayoral race is mid-August, a few weeks before the next Conservative federal leader is determined.
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The issue has been much debated in conservative circles, but has not yet become an important factor in the federal leadership race.
Although both Brown and Polliver served together in Ottawa during the Stephen Harper years, hostility between the two camps has been evident since the start of the last Conservative leadership race.
Brown accused Poilievre of using the “scorched earth” campaign in an attempt to take the lead in the party, and reiterated that he would not run in the federal election under the banner of the Carlton MP.
“The fact that he continues to attack my campaign with an approach to the burned land, I think, speaks to the fact that he is not confident. That doesn’t look like a confident leader, “Brown said in an interview.
Brown said he held “high respect” for other candidates, including Jean Charest and Leslin Lewis, and would be “happy” to run under each of the candidates in the next federal election. But he said he did not believe Poilievre was “eligible” in regions of the country that conservatives must win to form a government.
Read more: Conservatives are confident that the vote on leadership will not be delayed despite the jump in membership
One of Poilievre’s top advisers, conservative strategist Jenny Byrne, has repeatedly accused Brown of lying, and the Poilievre campaign has launched a social media advertising campaign that suggests the mayor of Brampton will “say and do everything.”
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The party’s deadline to register members eligible to vote in the September 10 leadership race came and expired earlier this month, and campaigns are now busy trying to attract existing members to support their leadership candidacies.
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In an interview with The West Block, Brown looked at some of the controversial foreign policy positions he has taken in his candidacy for leadership. This includes support for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a position that Canada and its NATO allies have refused to take for fear of escalating the conflict with Russia.
On Thursday, the party’s leadership took an unusual step to reassure leadership campaigns – and members – that the next leader would be announced on September 10th after an unprecedented jump in membership sales.
Although the Conservative Party itself will not confirm figures, Poilievre’s campaign claims that more than 311,000 members registered through the candidate’s website during the race, while Brown claims to have sold approximately 150,000 members.
Charest’s campaign assured its supporters that they had registered enough members to ensure they had a “path” to victory, although they refused to disclose specific numbers. The campaigns of Leslin Lewis, Scott Aichison and Roman Baber have not released their own membership sale.
Read more: Conservative Leadership Race Enters New Phase As Membership Deadline Approaches
The party has not yet confirmed the number of members who will be eligible to vote in the race. This is largely due to the fact that the party does not know – the various campaigns still have the ability to review the lists of members and challenge any name that they believe has been fraudulently added to the lists.
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Global News reported in May that the party could reach 500,000 members – a record in modern Canadian politics for the Conservative Party – but the party said Thursday it expects “well over” 600,000 eligible voters. The party has pledged to receive a final list of eligible voters for campaigns by July 29th.
Despite the unprecedented number of party representatives, they said they would be ready to send ballots by mail to members in late July or early August before announcing September 10th.
“Due to the party’s recent experience in holding elections for national leadership involving hundreds of thousands of members, it has managed to expand operations to manage the increased number of members,” the party’s leadership said in a press release on Thursday.
The 2022 race was a particularly fierce and personal campaign, even by the standards of recent conservative leaderships.
Read more: Former Tory financial critic says he left his role after lawmakers tried to “inflate” Polyeur’s criticism
Poilievre, the alleged favorite, accused former Quebec Prime Minister Jean Charest of being a liberal and Brown a liar. Brown’s campaign retaliated with its own personal attacks, while Charest repeatedly mocked Poilievre’s embrace of cryptocurrency and promised to fire the head of Canada’s central bank.
The last Conservative leader, Erin O’Toole, was overthrown by deep divisions within the Conservative movement and the group. The next Conservative leader will have to find a way to heal these fractures – and all the new ones that have emerged in the course of this inclination of leadership.
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1:37 CPC Leadership Race: Poilievre faces tougher-than-expected competition CPC Leadership Race: Poilievre faces tougher-than-expected competition – March 26, 2022
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