Did Patrick Brown's municipal meddling affect his job?

October 25th was municipal election day in Ontario. It was also a sitting day for the House of Commons. The House was in session from 11:00am until it adjourned at 6:56pm.

Was Barrie represented in the House of Commons that day?

According to Patrick Brown's twitter blog, he was in Barrie at 10:40am voting at the South Shore Community Centre. Brown's next 'tweet' which indicated where he was came at 6:52pm:

Doing municipal election commentary at A Channel at 630 pm and from 10 pm to 11 pm for Simcoe County Elections 2010
6:52 PM Oct 25th via Mobile Web

All of Brown's 'tweets' between 10:40am and 6:52pm were predictions for the municipal election. Where was Brown between 10:40am and 6:52pm? It doesn't look like he was in Ottawa.

More 'tweets' from Patrick Brown indicated that his focus on the municipal election kept him up late into the evening:

Glad to see my friend Jennifer Robinson was elected as new ward 8 councillor
Tue 26 Oct 2010 03:47:30 AM EST via Mobile Web


the 10 city councillors elected look like a terrific team. Congrats to Cllr. Prowse and Nuttall for their gigantic victories.
Tue 26 Oct 2010 03:48:25 AM EST via Mobile Web


@jlehman2010 congrats. I look forward to working with new council to make Barrie even better
Tue 26 Oct 2010 03:49:50 AM EST via Mobile Web

Brown's late night seems to have kept him from attending a meeting of the House of Commons Subcommittee on Nuerological Disease the next morning. At the meeting, the subcommittee decided which neurological diseases it's next nine meetings would be devoted to, according to the minutes of the meeting. The subcommittee has just five members, all of whom were either present at the meeting or sent another MP to represent them, except Patrick Brown. The subcommittee decided to devote a single meeting in February to the study of Multiple Sclerosis.

Later the same morning, the House of Commons Health Committee, of which Patrick Brown is a member, held a meeting to study consumer product safety legislation. According to the minutes of the meeting, Patrick Brown did not attend, and did not send another MP in his place, although Brown claims on his twitter blog that he attended the meeting:

At health committee for clause by clause consideration of Bill C 36 on Consumer Product Safety
Tue 26 Oct 2010 11:08:39 AM EST via Mobile Web

In an article which appeared on the website of the New Tecumseth Press Online, Patrick Brown offered the following defense of his involvement in a municipal election campaign:

"Canada is a free country. I am permitted to volunteer in my free time for whomever I please."

What Mr. Brown does in his free time is not the question here. The question is: Did Patrick Brown's involvement in municipal election campaigning keep him from representing Barrie in the House of Commons on October 25th and did it cause him to miss one or two committee meetings the next day? These are questions that Mr. Brown needs to answer.