Sunday 11 September 2022

Top Doug Ford, John Tory strategists rally behind mayoral challenger to topple Patrick Brown

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Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2022 13:48:42 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: RE Join the Rebel News crew from across the
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Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2022 10:46:48 -0300
Subject: RE Join the Rebel News crew from across the country and in
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Deja  Vu Anyone???

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/patrick-brown-cleared-bu-integrity-comissioner-1.6556376

Patrick Brown 'vindicated' by Brampton's integrity comissioner

The investigation looked into an allegation that city staff worked on Brown's Conservative leadership bid

The integrity commissioner of Brampton, Ont. has cleared Mayor Patrick Brown of an allegation that he was using city staff to work on his Conservative Party leadership bid while they were being paid by the city.

The office was looking into the issue following a report from Rebel Media in June. 

Brown called the entire investigation a "waste of taxpayer money" in a statement Thursday evening.

"I am vindicated now that the Integrity Commissioner has ruled I did nothing wrong," he said. 

Brown was disqualified from the Conservative leadership race in July based on allegations related to an apparent breach of the financing rules in the Canada Elections Act. Following his disqualification, CBC Toronto reported that five Brampton city councillors released a statement about Brown's "clear and alarming pattern of behaviour." In that statement, the councillors made reference to Rebel Media's allegation. 

The Integrity Commissioner investigation clears Mayor Brown of wrong doing in regards to the false allegations of using municipal staff on the recent CPC leadership campaign. See Mayor Brown statement below:

 

Image

The integrity commissioner's investigation was officially prompted by a complaint submitted by former Bramption city councillor Elaine Moore. 

In a copy of the disposition letter, addressed to Moore and obtained by CBC Toronto, the integrity commissioner stated, "we are unable to find that the mayor breached the Code of  Conduct as alleged." 

Per the mayor's statement, the integrity commissioner said that they did not "obtain evidence to substantiate the allegation that the Mayor contravened the Brampton Code of Conduct by having his staff work on his CP Leadership campaign on City-paid time."

They further clarified that records show that staff time used to work on the campaign was recorded as vacation or lieu time, and in one case, a leave of absence.

The integrity commissioner also stated there's no evidence that the mayor compelled any employee to work on the leadership campaign.

Brown called for an apology from the media organization that made the allegation.

He is seeking re-election this fall.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

 

 

https://www.thestar.com/local-brampton/news/council/2022/08/12/former-liberal-mp-ousted-from-party-in-2021-joins-growing-list-of-brampton-mayoral-candidates.html?itm_source=parsely-api

Former Liberal MP ousted from party in 2021 joins growing list of Brampton mayoral candidates

Former Brampton Centre Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha, who was expelled from the Liberal caucus in 2021, has decided to run for mayor. (File photo)

Former Brampton Centre Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha has joined a growing list of mayoral candidates in the upcoming fall municipal election.

Sangha is the fifth candidate hoping to unseat incumbent Mayor Patrick Brown on Oct. 24. Brown confirmed he is running for a second term in July following his disqualification from the federal Conservative leadership race.

Sangha served as MP for Brampton Centre between 2015 and 2021 before being expelled from the Liberal caucus after accusing members of his party of supporting the Khalistan movement. The party dismissed the allegations as “baseless and dangerous” and ousted him from caucus just months ahead of the 2021 federal election.

He sat as an independent in parliament and didn’t seek re-election in the federal election.

In addition to Sangha and Brown, former federal Conservative candidate Jermaine Chambers and past regional council candidates Cody Vatcher and Vidya Sagar Gautam will also on the ballot. 

Graeme Frisque
Reporter
gfrisque@metroland.com

 

https://www.thestar.com/local-brampton/news/municipal-election/2022/09/01/former-liberal-mp-ramesh-sangha-2-others-withdraw-from-brampton-mayoral-race.html

 

Former Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha, 2 others withdraw from Brampton mayoral race

Who's running for Brampton mayor in the upcoming municipal election?

Former Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha has withdrawn from Brampton's mayoral race. (File photo)

There will be six candidates vying to be Brampton mayor in the upcoming Oct. 24 election after three previously registered candidates dropped out of the race ahead of the Aug. 19 registration deadline.

The most notable former candidate to withdraw is former Brampton Centre Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha.

Sangha served as an MP in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus from 2015 to 2021. He was ejected from the party after making controversial statements accusing members of his party of supporting the Khalistan movement.

Sangha registered to run earlier in August but his candidacy was short-lived and he withdrew shortly before the deadline.

Two other previously registered candidates — Jermaine Chambers and Cody Vatcher — are running for council seats instead.

Both Chambers and Vatcher are running for city councillor in Wards 2 and 6.

While three people have withdrawn from the mayoral race, three others entered leading up to the deadline.

Joining Patrick Brown on the ballot are:

— Vidya Sagar Gautam

— Nikki Kaur

— Prabh Kaur Mand

— Tony Moracci

— Bob Singh

Click here to view a full list of all candidates running for mayor and city council.

 

https://www.thestar.com/local-brampton/news/council/2022/09/02/brampton-councillor-storms-out-of-meeting-accuses-patrick-brown-of-cover-up-after-investigation-cancelled.html

Brampton councillor storms out of meeting, accuses Patrick Brown of ‘cover-up’ after investigation cancelled

Brampton Wards 3 and 4 Coun. Jeff Bowman (right) walked out of a recent council meeting and accused Mayor Patrick Brown and some other councillors of engaging in a cover up after Brown moved a successful motion to cancel an ongoing investigation.

Sparks flew at recent special council meeting in Brampton after Mayor Patrick Brown moved a successful motion to end an investigation into procurement practices at city hall.

Wards 3 and 4 Coun. Jeff Bowman stormed out of council chambers after Brown moved the motion during the Aug. 26 meeting to stop a nearly complete third-party investigation into four requests for proposals (RFP) and procurements and refer those matters to the integrity commissioner.

Brown moved the motion despite Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Paul Morrison telling council the findings and report were expected sometime this month, and City Clerk Peter Fay indicating the integrity commissioner doesn’t have jurisdiction over those kinds of investigations. The city had already spent more than $50,000 on the third-party investigation.

“We’re just going to throw away $50,000 plus (taxpayers money) away, hold this investigation off and any of its findings that might already be determined until after the election? So, any wrongdoing that might have been found during any of these RFP investigations, we’re just saying, ‘don’t even worry about it, not important, let's hold the election first (and) vote everybody back in’. And then we’ll … send it to an integrity commissioner, who may not even be able to look at them,” Bowman told council.

"We’ve got Canada’s leading expert on procurement, who’s doing these RFPs, and we are saying to him, ‘no, we’d rather have an integrity commissioner look at them’. This is absurd, this is a 100 per cent, total cover up by this council of actions that have been taken during this term of office,” Bowman added before storming out of the council chambers.

After Bowman’s exit, Brown hastily called a vote on the motion and passed it without giving members of council a chance to object and moving on despite one councillor clearly trying to do so.

Council ordered the investigation in May and the unnamed investigator was probing four requests for proposal for legal risk assurance, the appointment of former integrity commissioner Muneeza Sheik, the now-defunct Municipal Development Corporation initiative, and procurement of COVID-19 supplies.

Sheikh’s contract was terminated earlier this year after some councillors raised concerns about fees exceeding $700,000. She has since launched a lawsuit against the city and five current and one former councillor over her dismissal.

Brown told the Brampton Guardian that he and a majority of council believe the procurement investigation is politically motivated and raised concerns that it was being overseen by a steering committee comprised of just three councillors.

“Our motion was clear. We don’t want council to be politically involved in investigations. The motion recognized that having a steering committee of councillors was inappropriate,” Brown told the Brampton Guardian.

“The majority of council felt it was more appropriate to use the established mechanisms to determine if any further review is necessary which is internal audit, integrity commissioner or ombudsman. Council shouldn’t be directing investigations. It should be the statutory officers responsible for it,” he added.

However, Brown raised those same concerns during council’s regular meeting on Aug. 10 and Morrison assured council that the steering committee — comprised of Bowman and councillors Gurpreet Dhillon and Pat Fortini — was not directly involved in the investigation beyond selecting the investigator and receiving updates.

Despite that, Coun. Rowena Santos, who supported Brown’s motion and acknowledged Morrison’s assurances, said she still felt a steering committee comprised of just three councillors raised questions.

“It’s unknown because they refused to have any other councillors who were interested to be involved. It is not transparent, no. It is questionable,” she said in an interview.

Bowman denied the steering committee interfered with or directed the investigation in any way and maintained his allegations of an attempted cover up.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,” he said in an interview. “I said my piece and I stand by exactly what I said in council. I think this is a massive cover up.”

 

https://www.brampton.ca/EN/City-Hall/CouncilOffice/Jeff-Bowman/Pages/Biography.aspx

 

Councillor Jeff Bowman Biography

Councillor Jeff BowmanCity of Brampton

Contact Information
Phone: 905.874.2603
Fax: 905.874.2644
Email: jeff.bowman@brampton.ca

Ward 3 and 4 City Councillor Jeff Bowman is lifetime resident of Brampton and he continues to live, work, volunteer and contribute to this great city. Jeff’s commitment to the community runs deep and his first priority will be working for the residents of Wards 3 & 4.

Jeff believes Brampton needs a strong, cohesive council to meet the challenges this community faces over the upcoming term and beyond.  His approach is one of openness and transparency and keeping residents informed about what is going on in the City.  More importantly, Jeff works hard to engage his residents and encourage them to become involved in guiding the future of their community.

Jeff is passionate about Brampton, and is committed to bringing his passion and commitment to City Council on behalf of the residents of Wards 3 and 4.

Jeff attended Ridgeview P.S., Centennial Sr. P.S., and Northwood P.S. before graduating to Brampton Centennial S.S.  He went on to study Business Administration at Sheridan College, where he won The Ron McNie Memorial Award for highest average in the Business Division.

Jeff started Bowman Training Initiatives in early 2005 after being in the business world in various management and director positions in a variety of large organizations for more than 20 years. In 2006 Bowman Training Initiatives was awarded the “Small Business of the Year by The Mississauga Business Enterprise Centre”.  In 2008 Bowman Training merged with 2 other independent businesses to form The Marketing Pad Inc. a full service marketing company in Brampton.  For the last 3 years in a row, The Marketing Pad has been voted Best Marketing Company in Brampton by the Business Times.

A partial list of Jeff’s volunteer, community involvement includes:

• 12 years as a business mentor with the Brampton Small Business Enterprise Centre
• Member of the advisory Board for Brampton Excelsior Senior Lacrosse Club (6 years)
• Member of the executive of Friends of Peel Memorial 
• Worked with the Carabram Board (5 years)
• Volunteer to speak in high schools on business and entrepreneurship
• Volunteer with The Circle of Hope Cancer Support Group
• Coached hockey and lacrosse at house league and rep levels for 12 years
• Volunteer for Rotary Youth Leadership (RYLA)
• Volunteer for Kiwanis Brampton Volunteer Awards
• Volunteer at Sheridan College - Director for BDL Course  (5 years)
• Raised funds for Wellspring Chinguacousy through "Pink Hair Dare"
• Brampton Board of Trade member for 12 years - served as Head of Business Development Committee
• Former Chair of Trade Talkers Breakfast Networking Group – Member  for 10 years 

Jeff is an avid lacrosse fan and a tireless volunteer with many community organizations in Brampton. 

He has been married to his wife Tammy for more than 30 years and they have two wonderful sons, Jake 26 and Matt 24, and the family has lived in Peel Village for 22 years.  Jeff was elected to Brampton City Council as City Councillor for Wards 3 and 4 in October 2014.

 

https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2022/09/07/top-doug-ford-john-tory-strategists-rally-behind-mayoral-challenger-to-topple-patrick-brown.html

 

Top Doug Ford, John Tory strategists rally behind mayoral challenger to topple Patrick Brown

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown may be one of the best known politicians in Canada. But the mayoral challenger generating the most buzz is Nikki Kaur, a lawyer and municipal employee fired and then reinstated after raising allegations of wrongdoing at Brampton city hall.

The mayoral challenger generating the most buzz — at Queen’s Park and beyond — is Nikki Kaur, a lawyer and municipal employee fired and then reinstated after raising allegations of wrongdoing at Brampton city hall. 
It is shaping up as the liveliest mayoral election in the entire Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, one of the best known politicians in Canada, is facing off against five rivals, including Vidya Sagar Gautam, Prabh Kaur Mand, Tony Moracci, and Bob Singh.

But the mayoral challenger generating the most buzz — at Queen’s Park and beyond — is Nikki Kaur, a lawyer and municipal employee fired and then reinstated after raising allegations of wrongdoing at Brampton city hall.

That’s because key political strategists behind Premier Doug Ford, Toronto Mayor John Tory, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and former premier Dalton McGuinty have joined forces to help her.

“You’re only as good as your team and the team is phenomenal,” said Kaur, who is on an unpaid leave of absence from city hall and will officially launch her campaign on Monday.

“I love this idea of bringing together Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats and Greens and doing something positive for Brampton,” she said Wednesday.

Nick Kouvalis, the polling wizard instrumental in Ford’s June 2 re-election, has teamed up with Marcel Wieder, the mastermind behind the Working Families coalition of unions that helped the Liberals win four straight provincial elections, to try to unseat the incumbent.

It could be a quixotic long shot.

Brown, who enjoys a massive lead over all his rivals in the publicly available polls and has unparalleled name recognition in Brampton, said he has widespread support from across the political spectrum.

The first-term mayor played down the potential challenge posed by a campaign run by prominent strategists.

“Kouvalis is just taking his grudge out on me by using a former defeated Hamilton Conservative candidate to run against me,” he said, referring to Kaur’s unsuccessful 2019 federal Tory bid in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.

Indeed, the two have publicly sparred dating back to Brown’s three years as Ontario PC leader that ended in 2018 after CTV broadcast a piece alleging sexual impropriety with two women.

(Brown has always denied the allegations and earlier this year, CTV expressed “regrets” over the story, admitting it contained “factually incorrect” information that caused “harm” to his provincial political career.)

“It’s not a grudge match at all,” insisted Kouvalis, who is also overseeing Tory’s Toronto mayoral campaign for the third consecutive time.

“Nikki is a good candidate. I’m working for someone who is from Brampton, who went to school in Brampton, who started a business in Brampton,” said the Campaign Research principal.

“Everywhere Patrick goes, there’s a dark cloud that follows him. It’s time for a change,” the pollster said, pointing to the ongoing controversies at Brampton city hall.

“He’s been cancelling council meetings, but the Oct. 24 election is the one get-together that Patrick Brown is not going to be able to cancel,” he said.

Wieder, president and chief advocate of Aurora Strategy Global, said he came to the campaign after “Nick put a tweet out asking for candidates to run against Brown so I answered his tweet and said ‘I’m prepared to help you out.’”

A top adviser to Crombie in Mississauga, he also worked on former Brampton mayor Linda Jeffrey’s successful 2014 campaign and on the 2018 effort that saw her lose to Brown.

“Never underestimate Patrick,” said Wieder, who created anti-Brown attack ads for Working Families in 2017.

“But he sought the leadership of the federal Conservatives and abandoned the people of Brampton at a critical time. There were shootings in Brampton and he was AWOL campaigning across Canada,” he said.

That’s a reference to the contest that the federal Tories disqualified Brown from in July after allegations that election financing rules were broken.

He has denied any wrongdoing and his name is still on the Conservative ballot with the results of that vote being announced Saturday.

Wieder, noting other prominent Liberals from the McGuinty era will also be joining Kaur’s team, said he expects her coalition of support to grow “after the federal leadership is decided.”

Backers of Tory front-runner Pierre Poilievre — a fierce Brown rival federally — are expected to rally to her candidacy in coming days.

“Nikki is a model of integrity,” said Wieder.

“When the city fired her, she wasn’t prepared to back down.”

In April 2021, Kaur was terminated as director of corporate projects, policy and liaison by then city chief administrative officer David Barrick after alleging wrongdoing by senior officials.

While auditor Deloitte concluded last September that claims of corruption, racism and harassment could not be substantiated, she told the Star she spent $45,000 of her own money on a legal fight to get her job back.

Barrick, who had worked at Brampton city hall since October 2019, parted ways with the municipality in February.

Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie
 
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
416-325-9890 
 
Robert Benzie is Queen's Park Bureau Chief for the Toronto Star. He is responsible for coordinating the provincial political coverage for Canada's largest circulation newspaper. Before joining the Star in 2003, he covered Queen's Park and Toronto City Hall for the National Post, a paper he helped launch as its Deputy Toronto Editor in 1998. Prior to that, he worked for the Toronto Sun and the Ottawa Sun. Benzie has covered countless elections and leadership contests at federal, provincial and municipal levels. In 2010, Benzie received the Mary Deanne Shears Award as the Toronto Star's reporter of the year. 

 

https://bramptonist.com/bob-dosanjh-is-the-main-challenger-to-mayor-brown/

 

Bob Dosanjh Singh is the main challenger to Mayor Brown

September 9, 2022

 
      (Photo: Brampton mayoralty candidate Bob Singh Dosanjh)

Bob Dosanjh Singh describes himself as a proud Canadian, business owner, and resident of Brampton.

It comes to no surprise that the popular political activist Bob Singh Dosanjh has decided to enter the race to become Brampton’s next Mayor. As the owner and host of Sanjha Punjab Radio and TV, Dosanjh has been following and commenting on local politics for a quite some time. And given the political theatrics occurring at City Hall the past two terms, the local celebrity continues to have a lot to say.

If elected, he would be the face of diversity, as Brampton’s first South Asian and Canadian Head of Council.

Due to his popularity, activism in the local community, and strong following, many political strategists consider Bob Singh Dosanjh as the only challenger who can compete with the incumbent Mayor Patrick Brown.

In his campaign literature, Dosanjh vows to clean up the corruption at City Hall.

Bob Singh Dosanjh also aims to restore financial accountability at Brampton City Hall. In a recent twitter post, Dosanjh identified city hall insiders, accusing Mayor Brown of giving contracts to his friends. However, the independent forensic auditors Deloitte investigated and concluded that all procurement practices followed City policies and procedures.

He also described municipal employee, Hamilton Conservative candidate, and fellow mayoralty candidate Nikki Kaur as “…wasting over $1 million on investigating fake allegations against her political rivals”. In one of the allegations, Nikki Kaur claimed that she was bullied by Councillor Santos. Brampton’s Integrity Commissioner investigated the allegation and concluded that there was “…no finding that Councillor Santos bullied or harassed the staff member.” The investigation was paid by Brampton’s taxpayers.

Second in the polls, Bob Singh Dosanjh wants to make the City more affordable to Bramptonians and promises to improve municipal services, such as public transit, policing, healthcare and upgrades to infrastructure.

Dosanjh has arranged an event this Sunday, September 11 at 2 pm to give further details on this platform with the campaign slogan “Let’s Get Brampton Working Again”. You can sign up to receive more information at BobForMayor.

 

 https://www.brampton.ca/EN/City-Hall/election/Candidates/Pages/candidateListing.aspx

 

Mayor

Trustee, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board - Wards 1, 3, 4

Trustee, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board - Wards 2, 5, 6

Trustee, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board - Wards 7, 8, 9, 10

Trustee, Conseil scolaire Viamonde

Trustee, Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir

Contact Election

Phone: Dial 3-1-1 (within City limits)
905.874.2000 (outside City limits)

 

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