Brampton mayor will testify at foreign interference probe despite ‘objection’ to ‘partisan’ summons

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown will testify at a probe into alleged Indian foreign interference in a Conservative Party leadership race, despite concerns the summons could be politically motivated.

“I have no new evidence to contribute to the committee’s proceedings and am concerned that my appearance has been sought for political reasons rather than matters of substantive policy,” the Brampton mayor said in a statement on Monday.

After turning down invites from MPs in Ottawa looking into possible foreign interference, Brown was officially summoned to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security Committee last week.

He is expected to give testimony on Thursday.

The committee is looking into alleged “electoral interference and violent criminal activities” carried out in Canada by agents of the Indian government.

The CBC reported on Monday that Brown’s national campaign co-chair, Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, was allegedly pressured to walk back support for Brown in the 2022 Conservative leadership race.

Sources reportedly gave examples of “pressure exerted by Indian consular agents in Canada to harm Brown’s candidacy,” the CBC said.

A report released in June by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) contained a redacted paragraph that detailed alleged Indian interference in a Conservative leadership contest.

No specific year of when the contest took place was mentioned in the redacted report, however, Pierre Poilievre won the most recent leadership bid in 2022.

Brown was disqualified from that contest by the party’s leadership committee citing “serious allegations of wrongdoing by the Patrick Brown campaign.”

Brown said that while he takes concerns of foreign interference “very seriously” and it’s an issue which must be investigated, he has “no new evidence” to share with the committee and fears he’s been summoned “for political reasons rather than matters of substantive policy.”

“I have no reason to believe that such interference altered the final outcome of the 2022 Conservative part of Canada leadership race,” he said in a statement.

He said concerns of being drawn into a partisan fight led him to decline the committee’s earlier invitations, adding that the Foreign Interference Public Inquiry is the better venue for his testimony instead of the Standing Committee on Public Safety.

‘This commission is the appropriate venue for a detailed and impartial examination of these concerns. To date, I have not been contacted by Justice Hogue or her commission,” Brown said.

Conservative MPs on the committee objected to Brown’s summons and voted against it, with Manitoba MP Raquel Dancho calling it a “sledgehammer of a tool to use on someone who I don’t believe is being accused of anything.”

She called the move “politically motivated,” while Liberal MP Randeep Sarai said the summons isn’t an indication of any wrongdoing by Brown but “just a matter of getting the witness here,” as he had declined invitations.

“While I maintain my objection to the committee’s summons, I understand and will comply with my legal obligation to appear,” the mayor’s statement reads.