TORONTO: Patrick Brown says he can disprove allegations of sexual misconduct that led to his abrupt resignation as leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party last month.
In a Facebook post published on Sunday, Brown says he has been investigating the allegations reported by CTV News and says specific details of the accusations from two unnamed women, which date back to when he was a federal MP, contain discrepancies that prove their accounts are false.
Brown also alleges both of the accusers know CTV reporters socially, and that the broadcaster left out an account from a witness to one of the alleged incidents that refuted details of what allegedly happened.
CTV Communications Director Matthew Garrow says the network is aware of Brown’s post and stands by its story.
Brown, whose resignation came months before a spring election, says he will clear his name.
The allegations reported by CTV have not been verified by The Canadian Press.
The broadcaster reported on Jan. 24 that one of the women, who is now 29, said she was still in high school when Brown allegedly asked her to perform oral sex on him.
Brown says CTV reported the alleged incident happened in his bedroom with the door closed, but he says that at the time of the alleged incident, he lived in an open concept apartment and the bedroom didn’t have a door.
CTV reported the second accuser was a university student working in Brown’s constituency office when he allegedly sexually assaulted her at his home after an event she helped organize.
Brown says in the post that the accuser actually tried to kiss him that night, while the woman he was seeing romantically was in another room. He says he “stopped her immediately and offered to drive her home,” which he says he did.
Brown says there were “at least three witnesses” who refute the allegations, one of whom spoke to CTV. He alleges CTV left that out of their report.