‘How can you trust him to run the country?’: Pierre Poilievre attacks Brampton Mayor Brown with new ads

New attack ads from Pierre Poilievre are highlighting turmoil on Brampton City Council in an attempt to cut down Conservative leadership rival and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown.

“If you can’t trust him to run a city, how can you trust him to run the country?” ask the ads running on TV and social media platforms, pointing to a forensic audit of the now-scrapped Brampton University initiative.

The city has hired a firm to look into some $630,000 paid to consultants on the project which Brown has championed, and the city’s integrity commissioner is looking into possible conflicts of interest between a consultant and Coun. Rowena Santos.

Poilievre and Brown have traded shots at one another since the Brampton mayor entered the leadership contest back in March.

Both campaigns have now launched complaints with the party against each other, with the Poilievre campaign accusing Brown of breaking campaign finance law, and Brown’s team requesting a probe into what it calls “misleading” emails from Poilievre sent to party members about their memberships.

RELATED: Council split on Brampton University forensic audit

Brown’s campaign for CPC leader has been met with mixed reactions in Brampton.

Five city councillors said last week that Brown is “personal ambitions above the interests of taxpayers” and “using taxpayer-funded City Hall staff to work on his federal campaign.”

Brown has denied the allegations, which if true would go against council’s code of conduct.

An already fractured Brampton City Council has become even more split after Brown and four councillors boycotted two meetings last week, blocking the appointment of a vacant seat on council.

Brown and his backers say they are blocking the appointment to safeguard the city from a motion that goes against the provincial Municipal Act, while opponents say he is attempting to “mislead the public and to stop investigations looking into his ‘questionable’ activities.”

The CPC leadership winner is set to be announced on Sept. 10, but Brampton will hold a municipal election on Oct. 24.

The Brampton mayor will likely have to forgo a re-election bid if he plans to see the CPC leadership race to the finish, with the window to run again locally closing on Aug. 19.

Brown has said he would not run federally for a Conservative Party under Poilievre’s leadership.