Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said foreign interference did not tip the balance in the latest Conservative Party leadership race that installed Pierre Poilievre at the helm.
Brown, who was a leadership candidate at the time, was summoned to a House of Commons committee to answer questions about the 2022 race after a national security committee report cited Indian interference in a leadership campaign. unspecified conservative.
“I don’t think foreign intervention affected the final outcome of the Conservative leadership race,” Brown told a House of Commons committee on Thursday.
Receive the latest national news
For news affecting Canada and around the world, sign up to receive breaking news alerts directly as it happens.
Brown said he believes it is important to protect against foreign interference, but he does not want to be drawn into partisan debates in Parliament.
On Monday, Brown posted on social media about the committee’s subpoena to say he had no new evidence to add and that the public inquiry into foreign interference was the appropriate place to evaluate the allegations.
He said Thursday that no member of the Indian government approached him or his campaign workers during his leadership bid.
Brown was not included as a witness in the public inquiry, which concluded hearings earlier this fall with a final report due in the new year.
Brown was disqualified from the party’s 2022 leadership race over allegations related to Canada Elections Act funding rules.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
