THUNDER BAY – Progressive Conservative candidate Derek Parks is back to supporting Patrick Brown again in the party’s leadership race.
Parks, seeking to unseat Liberal Michael Gravelle in Thunder Bay-Superior North, backed Brown wholeheartedly during his successful leadership bid to replace Tim Hudak after the 2014 provincial election.
Brown, following allegations of sexual misconduct, resigned the party leadership earlier this year and Parks threw his support behind Christine Elliott, who finished second to Brown last time around. However, on Friday, Brown, who has vowed to clear his name and said the women who made the accusations are lying, on Friday threw his name into the ring.
Parks was quick to back his former leader on the final day to sign up new members to be eligible to vote on March 10 for the next party leader.
“Patrick Brown is the only leader for the Ontario PC Party that has given the North the attention we have been demanding for decades,” Parks writes, urging people to sign up.
“His passion for the North and the fact he invited me along for the ride makes me proud to throw my endorsement behind him.”
Brown has threatened to sue CTV News, who aired the first report of the allegations, after one of the women who came forward changed her story, saying she wasn’t underage at the time of the alleged incident.
Brown, Elliott, former Toronto Coun. Doug Ford, Tanya Granic Allen and Caroline Mulroney, who will be in Thunder Bay on Tuesday, are the five leadership hopefuls.
