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| NOTE: I created this spoof ad as an illustration to accompany the following Wrights Lane post. |
Protest voting occurs when unsatisfied voters abandon their most-preferred candidate even though he or she has a good chance of winning, in the hope that this signal of disaffection will lead to downstream improvements in that candidate’s performance. This approach has been known to backfire however when the underdog candidate actually gains enough votes to win the election.
Disturbingly, there is another form of protest voting in which Devil's advocates demonstrate their annoyance with all political parties and incumbent governments by voting for the most controversial and off-the-wall candidate on the ballot sheet. By making a mockery of the election process such individuals feel they are sending a message, or wake-up call, to all politicians.
Regardless, generally speaking, voters are collectively fed up, marginalized and overlooked. Life keeps getting more difficult for the hard-working "middle class" so often fawned over by political leaders. As Post Media columnist Mark Towhey recently put it: Canadians spoke clearly in 2010 when they elected Rob Ford as Mayor of Toronto. They spoke clearly in 2015 when they elected Rachel Notely as Premier of Alberta and again when they elected a wet-behind-the-ears Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. Britons spoke clearly in 2016 when they voted for Brexit. Americans spoke clearly when they voted for Donald Trump and Ontario spoke clearly when they elected Doug Ford last year. All of them elected to be mold-breakers...Some delivered and some did not.
Disturbingly, there is another form of protest voting in which Devil's advocates demonstrate their annoyance with all political parties and incumbent governments by voting for the most controversial and off-the-wall candidate on the ballot sheet. By making a mockery of the election process such individuals feel they are sending a message, or wake-up call, to all politicians.
Regardless, generally speaking, voters are collectively fed up, marginalized and overlooked. Life keeps getting more difficult for the hard-working "middle class" so often fawned over by political leaders. As Post Media columnist Mark Towhey recently put it: Canadians spoke clearly in 2010 when they elected Rob Ford as Mayor of Toronto. They spoke clearly in 2015 when they elected Rachel Notely as Premier of Alberta and again when they elected a wet-behind-the-ears Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. Britons spoke clearly in 2016 when they voted for Brexit. Americans spoke clearly when they voted for Donald Trump and Ontario spoke clearly when they elected Doug Ford last year. All of them elected to be mold-breakers...Some delivered and some did not.
The forgoing is all by way of getting to a classic example coming out of the surprise Brampton civic election of 2018 in which much maligned outsider Patrick Brown defeated veteran politician, long-time resident and incumbent Linda Jeffrey to become the mayor of Brampton. The upset win received minimal news coverage outside of the Region of Peel at the time.
Brown’s bid for mayor marked his third attempt at a political comeback after resigning as Ontario Progressive Conservative leader in 2017 amid muck-raking allegations of sexual misconduct. By means of update, he had previously entered the race to win back his leadership job before the provincial election, but dropped out shortly after. Then in July of 2018, he launched a bid to become Peel regional chair, but that was taken away after the Doug Ford government turned the position into an appointed role instead.
The much-maligned Brown with his never-say-die attitude and within days of moving from his home in Barrie, subsequently entered the mayoral race in Brampton and faced an uphill battle against Jeffrey, a former Liberal cabinet minister, who had the support of high-profile politicians from major parties, including some of Brown’s former colleagues. He no doubt set his political sights on Brampton — despite having only a tangential connection to the city — because Jeffrey seemed vulnerable. Turned out, she was.
While she lost by a slim margin of 4,000 votes, for some reason the Brampton public demonstrated a lack of faith in Jeffrey's leadership -- or dislike for her personally -- and opted for the Johnny-come-lately Brown with his questionable motives and checkered past in political life.
Jeffrey became mayor in 2014 after she defeated then-incumbent and controversial figure Susan Fennell. Prior to that, she was an MPP from 2003 to 2014, representing Brampton Centre and the former district of Brampton-Springdale.
Jeffrey, who called Brown a political opportunist during the campaign, was understandably shocked at her loss. Once Brown registered for the race, Jeffrey took to Twitter to call out his true intentions, saying the mayoral race was an opportunity to “rehabilitate” his career...No question about it, Brown's intentions were blatantly clear and still voters gave him the edge.
Many moons ago I was managing editor of the Brampton Daily Times newspaper, but I am not close enough to Brampton politics these days to adequately unravel the situation concerning Jeffrey's falling out of favor with the city's public, but something drastic must have turned the tide against her.
Despite Brown’s efforts to turn the page on the scandal that erupted in January of 2017, when CTV News reported allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against the then-Tory leader by two women (claims he has denied) his days at the provincial legislature were still making headlines and haunting him.
A government document leaked to the media just days before the vote in Brampton, showed Brown spent nearly $300,000 on support staff and office operations after resigning as PC leader and being turfed from the Tory caucus. The expenses were in line with legislative rules and involved severance payments to staff, Brown said in a statement. And still none of this was enough to deter Brampton voters...Go figure.
Brown also sued CTV News for defamation, although the broadcaster maintains it did nothing wrong when reporting the allegations against him.
He has also written a tell-all book about what he has described as his “political assassination.”
Meantime, all is well that ends well. The dust seems to have settled in Brampton and Brown gives evidence of doing an acceptable job as mayor with little fanfare. He has settled into family life in Brampton and his wife (married after the sex scandal broke) recently gave birth to their first child. But stay turned...He still has a score to settle with the provincial Tories and opportunist Doug Ford who now holds the job he once coveted.
Time will tell!
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| Patrick Brown |
Brown’s bid for mayor marked his third attempt at a political comeback after resigning as Ontario Progressive Conservative leader in 2017 amid muck-raking allegations of sexual misconduct. By means of update, he had previously entered the race to win back his leadership job before the provincial election, but dropped out shortly after. Then in July of 2018, he launched a bid to become Peel regional chair, but that was taken away after the Doug Ford government turned the position into an appointed role instead.
The much-maligned Brown with his never-say-die attitude and within days of moving from his home in Barrie, subsequently entered the mayoral race in Brampton and faced an uphill battle against Jeffrey, a former Liberal cabinet minister, who had the support of high-profile politicians from major parties, including some of Brown’s former colleagues. He no doubt set his political sights on Brampton — despite having only a tangential connection to the city — because Jeffrey seemed vulnerable. Turned out, she was.
While she lost by a slim margin of 4,000 votes, for some reason the Brampton public demonstrated a lack of faith in Jeffrey's leadership -- or dislike for her personally -- and opted for the Johnny-come-lately Brown with his questionable motives and checkered past in political life.
Jeffrey became mayor in 2014 after she defeated then-incumbent and controversial figure Susan Fennell. Prior to that, she was an MPP from 2003 to 2014, representing Brampton Centre and the former district of Brampton-Springdale.
Jeffrey, who called Brown a political opportunist during the campaign, was understandably shocked at her loss. Once Brown registered for the race, Jeffrey took to Twitter to call out his true intentions, saying the mayoral race was an opportunity to “rehabilitate” his career...No question about it, Brown's intentions were blatantly clear and still voters gave him the edge.
Many moons ago I was managing editor of the Brampton Daily Times newspaper, but I am not close enough to Brampton politics these days to adequately unravel the situation concerning Jeffrey's falling out of favor with the city's public, but something drastic must have turned the tide against her.
Despite Brown’s efforts to turn the page on the scandal that erupted in January of 2017, when CTV News reported allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against the then-Tory leader by two women (claims he has denied) his days at the provincial legislature were still making headlines and haunting him.
A government document leaked to the media just days before the vote in Brampton, showed Brown spent nearly $300,000 on support staff and office operations after resigning as PC leader and being turfed from the Tory caucus. The expenses were in line with legislative rules and involved severance payments to staff, Brown said in a statement. And still none of this was enough to deter Brampton voters...Go figure.
Brown also sued CTV News for defamation, although the broadcaster maintains it did nothing wrong when reporting the allegations against him.
He has also written a tell-all book about what he has described as his “political assassination.”
Meantime, all is well that ends well. The dust seems to have settled in Brampton and Brown gives evidence of doing an acceptable job as mayor with little fanfare. He has settled into family life in Brampton and his wife (married after the sex scandal broke) recently gave birth to their first child. But stay turned...He still has a score to settle with the provincial Tories and opportunist Doug Ford who now holds the job he once coveted.
Time will tell!
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