Christie Blatchford: What happened to Brown is fundamentally wrong. Every man in the world is now vulnerable

January 26, 2018

For all the other moments #MeToo has wrought, the Patrick Brown story is seminal: A political leader is cut down like a sapling in the forest in a matter of hours, and none of his colleagues, in and outside of the Ontario Conservative party, and including the Ontario premier and the prime minister of Canada, have one word to say in the defence of fair play or the presumption of innocence.

This — not the anonymous allegations of Brown’s accusers from the shadows — is what is shocking and disgraceful about this story.

Kathleen Wynne spent nearly 18 minutes in front of the TV cameras at Queen’s Park Thursday. Only one journalist even bothered to ask her about due process.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown leaves Queen’s Park after a press conference in Toronto on Wednesday, January 24, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
“These are allegations. He’s not had a chance to defend himself. Are you in any way concerned there is a bit of a public trial going on and is that fair?” the reporter asked.

“Again, I’m not going to comment on the specifics of the situation,” Wynne replied. “I do think that it was brave for these young women to come forward. I think that it was a hard thing for them to do, but the point I’m making this morning is that — we always, there will always be due process and there should be due process and there is a legal process that has to be part of this…”

And then she went on to urge Ontarians to get out their “own little flashlights” to “shine a light” into their own lives and to work together to “create safe spaces for everyone” — you know, except for the accused.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne leaves a news conference at Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto on Thursday Jan. 25, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
As for the PM, from Davos, Justin Trudeau saluted the women “for their courage and their leadership.” Ahh, what a fine fellow he is: It wasn’t so long ago his heart went out to the little Toronto girl whose hijab had been cruelly slashed by a man in a hate crime. Er, wait.

Andrea Horwath, te leader of Ontario’s New Democrats, was predictably even less circumspect.

Saying she was “pretty disgusted” by the allegations, she too fielded a question about the dangers of a trial in the court of public opinion.

“I really have two words about the justice system: Jian Ghomeshi,” she said, and went on to say that the “justice system is failing women … so let’s not pretend that we have a justice system that’s actually protecting women and making sure that women see justice.”

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horvath was at Univeristy of Toronto’s Hart House releasing her platform “Plan That Makes Sense” with supporters on Thursday May 22, 2014. Jack Boland/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency
News flash: The justice system isn’t meant to protect women, not to mention, not all of us need protecting.

And Ghomeshi was acquitted in a fair trial, with rules and order and an appeal process, and he was acquitted not because the system failed women, but because his accusers failed women: They variously lied, colluded with one another or failed to tell the truth to police and prosecutors.
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The point is not what Brown allegedly did.

The point is not even Brown, though spare a minute for him, that poor, lonely castoff. No wonder he raced to hold that impromptu press conference Wednesday night; very likely, it will be the first and only opportunity he ever has to defend himself in public.

The point is that purely on the say-so of two women who claim he sexually assaulted them another prominent man has been ruined. One of his accusers alleges he asked her for oral sex (her words, according to Glen McGregor, the CTV reporter who broke the story Wednesday night), the other was a former staffer who alleges he plied her with alcohol, took her to his bedroom and kissed her, his erection against her, until she protested and demanded he drive her home, whereupon he ceased and did just that.