The leader of Ontario’s opposition party, Mr. Patrick Brown, stepped down amid unidentified sexual assault allegations which he categorically denies.
Ontario, Canada’s largest province, has been in the midst of political spectacle for the last few days as two women had come forward with allegations against Mr Brown.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown fled from media Wednesday after denying sexual misconduct allegations made against him. Asked if he'd be staying on as leader, he said he'd "be back at work tomorrow."<br>READ MORE: <a href="https://t.co/tkJ9iD4oB6">https://t.co/tkJ9iD4oB6</a> <a href="https://t.co/kN4pHXamBw">pic.twitter.com/kN4pHXamBw</a></p>— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/globalnews/status/956375829759410176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Visibly moved, he said at a hastily called press conference: “I will defend myself as hard as I can with all means at my disposal.”
“I know the court of public opinion moves fast. I’ve instructed my attorneys to ensure that these allegations are addressed where they should be, in a court of law.”
“In short, I reject these accusations in the strongest possible terms, it’s not my values, it’s not how I was raised, it’s not who I am.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown denying allegations of sexual misconduct; "allegations are false…categorically untrue"</p>— 680 NEWS Toronto (@680NEWS) <a href="https://twitter.com/680NEWS/status/956358556411924480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
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"I can't speculate on the motive of my accusers, I can only say that what they are saying is categorically untrue," the 39-year-old politician said.
The two women that have come forward with graphic sexual misconduct allegations say the events took place when the Opposition leader was a federal MP.One of the women, claims that while she was still in high school Mr. Brown asked her to perform oral sex on him while the other claims she was a university student working in Brown's constituency office when he sexually assaulted her at his home after an event she helped organize.
Mr. Brown had been the frontrunner in the Ontario polls as the province heads for an election over the summer.
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