Patrick Brown says foreign interference did not affect Tory leadership race outcome

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said foreign interference did not tip the scales in the Conservative party’s last leadership race that installed Pierre Poilievre at the helm.

Brown, who was a candidate for the leadership at the time, was summoned to a House of Commons committee to answer questions on the 2022 race after a report from a committee on national security cited Indian interference in an unspecified Conservative leadership campaign.

“I don’t believe foreign intervention affected the final outcome of the Conservative leadership race,” Brown told a House of Commons committee on Thursday.

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Brown said he believes it’s important to guard against foreign interference but that he does not want to get drawn into partisan debates on Parliament Hill.

On Monday, Brown posted on social media about the committee’s summons to say that he had no new evidence to add, and that the public inquiry on foreign interference was the proper venue to evaluate the allegations.

He said Thursday that no members of the Indian government reached out to him or his campaign workers during his leadership bid.

Brown was not included as a witness in the public inquiry, which wrapped up hearings earlier this fall with a final report due in the new year.

Brown was disqualified from the party’s 2022 leadership race due to allegations related to financing rules in the Canada Elections Act.