2013 not the first year Patrick Brown skipped Parliament duties for Gretzky fantasy camp

According to Hansard, Barrie MP Patrick Brown did not participate in any of the votes in the House of Commons on February 8, 2012.

There were no recorded votes in the House of Commons on February 9 or 10.

Minutes of the February 9, 2012 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health indicate that Patrick Brown, a member of that committee, did not attend the meeting.

Brown's absence from the committee meeting was noted by another Conservative MP on the committee:

"Rita, I was interested in your presentation as well. I'm sorry that Patrick wasn't here; I know he has developed some mobile applications as well, although not, I believe, at the same level as what you're looking at."

The reason for Mr. Brown not attending the meeting and lending his experience using mobile apps to the committee's study of 'health promotion and disease prevention'?

He was at the Wayne Gretzky hockey fantasy camp in Las Vegas, just as he would be again when Parliament resumed in January of 2013.

According to Wayne Gretzky's web site, the games of his 2012 hockey fantasy camp took place on February 9, 10 and 11.

The team rosters for the 2012 fantasy camp show Brown's name on the roster of 'Team C', coached by Walter Gretzky.

Videos posted on Wayne Gretzky's web site show Brown at the 2012 hockey fantasy camp:

Barrie MP Patrick Brown at Wayne Gretzky's 'Fantasy Camp X'

Patrick Brown, Barrie Colts President Howie Campbell and Walter Gretzky

Brown Skips Parliament Duties To Play In World Pond Hockey Championship

According to the minutes of the February 7 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, Barrie MP Patrick Brown, a member of that committee, did not attend the meeting.

The meeting minutes also tell us that the meeting began at 3:30pm and ended at 5:21pm.

Tweets from New Brunswick MP Mike Allen reveal the reason for Brown's absence from the committee meeting:

Minutes of the February 7 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources show that Mike Allen, a member of that committee, did not attend the meeting. The meeting took place between 3:33pm and 5:31pm.

MPs Moore, Weston, Allen and Brown at 2013 World Pond Hockey Championship

I can understand the local MP, Mike Allen, and fellow New Brunswick MPs Moore and Weston, who did not miss committee meetings, wanting to attend this local event, but what excuse does an MP from Ontario like Patrick Brown have for neglecting his parliamentary duties to play in a hockey tournament a thousand kilometers away from his constituency?

Brown Skips Parliament Duties for Hockey Fantasy Camp

According to Hansard for Wednesday, January 30, 2013, Barrie MP Patrick Brown did not take part in any of the 5 votes that took place in the House of Commons that day.

Minutes of the Thursday, January 31, 2013 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health indicate that Patrick Brown, a member of that committee, did not attend.

Brown's twitter feed gives us a clue as to his whereabouts ...

To see what Brown was referring to, I checked out Alan Thicke's twitter feed and found the following:

I did some searching and discovered that Wayne Gretzky was running a hockey fantasy camp at the Bellagio in Las Vegas from January 27 to January 31, 2013.

The roster of players for the fantasy camp was posted on Gretzky's Facebook Page.

As you can see, Brown is listed on the roster of 'Team Keenan', while Thicke is listed on the roster of 'Team Keith'.

A video of the hockey camp final game, posted on YouTube, shows Brown playing.

It's worth a watch. The commentary is rather humourous.

In another video, Brown is mentioned specifically.

Was this hockey fantasy camp more important than the votes on Bill C-43, the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, which took place on January 30, 2013?

  

Was it more important than 'the study of technological innovation, including best practices, in health care' which was discussed at the January 31, 2013 meeting of the Sanding Committee on Health?

What is your answer, Mr. Brown?

This is not the first time Patrick Brown has put a hockey game before his duties as a parliamentarian.

In hockey, as in politics, if you don't show up for practice, you just might get cut from the team.

Mr. Brown might want to think about that.

Patrick Brown announces $460,350 in federal funding for boys-only Toronto private school

First, allow me to apologize to readers of this blog for not posting any new content here in two-and-a-half years.

I've taken to posting comments on the websites of Barrie's local newspapers, The Barrie Examiner, and to a lesser degree, The Barrie Advance, and that is what has brought me back here today.

I posted a comment to a Barrie Examiner article about Barrie MP Patrick Brown's announcement of federal funding for the Lampman Lane Community Centre.

My comment alerted online readers of the Examiner to another announcement of federal funding made by Patrick Brown just days before, but this announcement wasn't made in Brown's constituency of Barrie.

Brown's announcement of $460,350 of federal funding through the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund was made at the hockey arena of St. Michael's College School, a private all-boys school in Toronto which Brown attended.

Additional details about the announcement can be found in this North York Mirror article.

In my comment, I drew attention to the fact that St. Michael's College School requires in excess of $17,000 in annual tuition and fees, plus a one-time 'capital improvement' fee of $3,500 for 'new families'.

St. Michael's College School fees

I was rather surprised to see an exclusive private school getting financial assistance from the federal government, so I decided to check out the eligibility requirements for funding under the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund.

In order to be an eligible recipient under CIIF, St. Michael's would need to be a not-for-profit entity. I conducted a search of federal corporations and found a 'ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION'. Other than the word 'foundation' in the name, there was no indication as to whether this was a non-for-profit corporation. The 'Type of Corporation' was listed as Not Available.

Not satisfied with the information I had found in the federal corporation search, I decided to query the Canada Revenue Agency's database of charitable organizations. 

This search turned up the same 'ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION' I had found in the previous search, but this time the results were much more informative. I clicked on the link to display the foundation's 2012 Registered Charity Information Return.

Schedule 6 of the foundation's return includes the foundation's assets.

As you can see, with 'cash, bank accounts, and short-term investments' of $2.7 million and long-term investments of $15.3 million, it would seem that the school is not without considerable financial resources.

Schedule 6 also lists the foundation's revenue, which in 2012 included exactly $1 million in tax-receipted donations and $638 thousand in investment income.

'St. Michael College School High School Foundation' seems to have gotten it's start in 2006 when it received a donation of $18 million dollars from another registered charity, 'ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE SCHOOL'.

Schedule 6 of the 2011 return for 'St. Michael's College School' shows this organization, which has the same contact information as 'St. Michael's College High School Foundation', also has considerable assets.

All of this begs the question, why is the federal Conservative government, which has been cutting services to Canadians of modest means in the name of eliminating the deficit, handing out the better part of half a million dollars to an exclusive boys-only private school for the children of the well-heeled in Toronto?

What do you have to say on behalf of your government, to your constituents in Barrie who have been affected by cuts to government services, Mr. Brown?

St. Michael's College School graduate "Paddy Brown"

Here is Brown's comment on the federal funding to the North York Mirror:

“I think it’s a worthwhile investment”

You can let Mr. Brown know whether you think this funding is a worthwhile investment of your federal tax dollars by clicking on the 'Comments and Reactions' link at the bottom of this post.

UPDATE: Another article has been published which includes the following comments by Patrick Brown:

“I represent Barrie, but I know what St, Mike’s does for this area,” said Brown, at the ceremony Jan. 25. “I thought it would be a worthwhile cause to rally behind.

 “The rink hasn’t changed at all since I was here in ’97, you could see why there are upgrades required...

The school's website seems to contradict Mr. Brown, describing the arena as 'state-of-the-art'.

Here's a nice satellite photo of the facilities at St. Michael's.

Imagery ©2013 Cnes/Spot Image, DigitalGlobe, First Base Solutions, GeoEye, Map data ©2013 Google

The building in the middle is the St. Michael's hockey arena where Patrick Brown made the funding announcement.

According to a North York Mirror article, the funding "will help improve parking, upgrade lighting to ensure energy efficiency, increase accessibility by adding two handicap washrooms, upgrade the football field, dressing rooms and showers as well as ice pad chillers, boost security and upgrade walkway"

Now here's a satellite photo showing how close these facilities are to Mr. Brown's parent's house, marked with an 'A' in the photo below.

Imagery ©2013 Cnes/Spot Image, DigitalGlobe, First Base Solutions, GeoEye, Map data ©2013 Google

Using a scale on the map, I estimated the distance to be about 600 meters.

Getting back to where I started, the comment I posted to the Barrie Examiner article has disappeared, I suspect as a result of a private complaint by Mr. Brown or one of his supporters.

I made a comment to a similar article on the website of The Barrie Advance and when I returned to their website today, I found that a duplicate article had been created, minus the comment I had made on the earlier article, so I went ahead and commented on that article too.

I'd like to dedicate this post to the person or persons who had my comment removed from the Barrie Examiner article. I would not have taken the time to make this post were it not for you.

Patrick Brown: Health effects of energy drinks on young people not worth Parliament's time.

At a March 1, 2011 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, Barrie MP and committee member Patrick Brown brushed aside concerns about the health effects of energy drinks on young people:



Some quotes from the excerpt above:

"I don't think there is a lot of young people having energy drinks"

"I think it would misrepresenting to suggest that there is more kids having energy drinks than there is having iced caps ..."

"I think that there's much more important things that Parliament needs to be working on than declaring a war on Tim Horton's or caffeine"

At the time Mr. Brown made the above statements, he was questioning Justin Sherwood, President of Refreshments Canada.

According to the Lobbyists Registry, Mr. Brown was lobbied on behalf of Mr. Sherwood's organization, also know as the Canadian Beverage Association, on November 24, 2010.

Here is an excerpt from a March 2010 advisory released by Health Canada:

"Some products, such as energy drinks, can be a major source of caffeine. Energy drinks are not foods, but are regulated as natural health products intended for therapeutic purposes, such as "increasing mental and physical alertness". Consumers can tell which energy drinks have been reviewed by Health Canada for safety, effectiveness and quality by looking for the eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) on the label. Depending on how these energy drinks are consumed, they may lead to consumers exceeding Health Canada's recommendations, particularly those for pregnant or breastfeeding women and children. Approved energy drinks are labelled with a warning advising children and pregnant women not to consume these products."

I think Barrie, and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health would be better served by a Member of Parliament who takes health concerns more seriously:

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.

Patrick Brown, Immigration Consultant?

On yet another overseas junket, Barrie MP Patrick Brown 'tweeted' the following:

had great meetings in Delhi yesterday with Min. Kenney focused on cracking down on corrupt immigration consultants

Source: http://twitter.com/brownbarrie/status/23981579138

When the Cracking Down On Crooked Consultants Act legislation was introduced this summer, the local media in Barrie missed out on an important point in their coverage: Under current regulations and the proposed legislation, lawyers are not required to be registered with the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants or any future regulatory body that may replace the CSIC.

Prior to his becoming the Member of Parliament for Barrie, young lawyer Patrick W. Brown seems to have had some first hand experience with immigration consulting.

An article from the Toronto Star summarizes the scenario:

ISSUE: Unregulated foreign recruiters earn a profit by touting Canada as a place where jobs are practically guaranteed, but can't always deliver on their promises.

Recruiters team up with a local immigration consultant or someone billing himself as an "employment consultant" – a title that puts him outside the scrutiny of the regulatory body.

If things fall apart and hopes are dashed, it's shrugged off as a bad business deal.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/226062

The article goes on to detail the plight of a group of Korean immigrants who've paid the equivalent of between $7,000 and $13,400 in hopes of landing high-paying truck-driving jobs in Canada.

Details of Patrick Brown's involvement in the immigration scheme come from the discipline file of a CSIC member named Yolanda Simao:

8. At the time that these agreements were made or entered into the promotional literature for ULSC referred to a Patrick W. Brown from the law firm of Brown & Company in Barrie, Ontario. The literature did not refer to Ms. Simao. Ms. Simao was not in attendance at the seminar, and neither was her name mentioned at the seminar. The 24 Koreans who entered into their respective or collective contracts with ULSC did so at that time without the involvement of Ms. Simao. Ms. Simao did not enter into the overall picture until April of 2006.

9. In early 2006 ULSC began to receive complaints from a number of the Korean truck drivers. At some point in time, Mr. Patrick Brown ceased to be a part of the picture. The Panel was not provided significant testimony in this regard, but learned that, after discussions, Ms. Simao agreed to participate with ULSC to assist the 24 Korean truck drivers.

47. Additional mutually agreed upon facts were presented by both counsel. They are that on April 10, 2007 after the individual complaints were filed, Mr. Yakimovich, an Investigator, was retained by CSIC.

On July 23rd, 2007, Mr. Yakimovich interviewed Mr. Patrick Brown, the lawyer listed on the brochure at Exhibit 1 Tab C-1 and Member of Parliament for Barrie since 2006.

Source: https://www.cmi-icm.ca/images/Image/2007-013%20Simao%20Decision%20_final_%20080317.pdf

I wrote to one of the authors of The Star's articles on this case, Nicholas Keung, asking why Patrick Brown's involvement was not mentioned in any of The Star's articles. Here is Keung's reply:

Thanks for the email. We actually looked into Mr. Brown’s connection to the scheme during the initial investigation, but there was no paper trail and he really didn’t deliver much for the Korean recruiter. The bulk of the work in Canada was done by Ms. Simao. That’s why we ended it there.

As a result, we haven’t mentioned that in any of our stories because that wasn’t the focus of the investigation.

Here was my reponse to Keung's reply:

Thank you for your quick reply. In the course of your investigation, did you happen to see ULSC's "promotional literature" that referred to Patrick Brown that is mentioned in the CSIC tribunal decision for Ms Simao? If Mr. Brown "didn't deliver much" for the Korean recruiter or their clients, why didn't the article mention that? I thought the point of the articles was to show that people acting as immigration consultants weren't delivering on their promises? If Ms. Simao was picking up a ball that was dropped by Mr. Brown, I think it's only fair to Ms. Simao to at least mention Mr. Brown's involvement.

I did not receive a reply to my second email. Interestingly, it seems that Ms. Simao herself read one of my comments about Mr. Brown's involvement in the immigration scheme in an article on the Maclean's web site:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/29/selling-hope-to-the-unwitting/#IDComment93684460

Before Mr. Brown can 'crack down' on corrupt consultants, perhaps he should come clean about his own, apparently brief career in immigration consulting.

50 Front Page Conservative Ads ... paid for by you?

Shortly after he took office in 2006 as the MP for Barrie, Patrick Brown started placing ads on the front page of the local newspaper, The Barrie Examiner. Since July 25, 2006 those ads have included the Conservative Party logo in the lower left corner.

By my count, more than 50 of those ads contain no tag-line stating who paid for them. While more than half of the ads ran in 2007, the 2007 financial return for the Barrie Conservative riding association, which is posted on the Elections Canada website, states that the riding association had total advertising expenses of $0.00 in 2007.

On December 1, 2007, I asked who was paying for these ads in an online forum dedicated to federal politics. In October 2009, a letter of mine asking who was paying for the ads was published in The Examiner. After seeing an ad in January 2010, I posted a message in the 'UR Barrie' area of The Examiner's website that included the following appeal:

"I call on Patrick Brown and The Barrie Examiner to disclose to the public whether taxpayer's funds are being used to promote Mr. Brown and the Conservative Party."

I still have not yet received a response either from Patrick Brown or The Examiner, but since I posted the above appeal, none of Mr. Brown's ads that I have seen have included the Conservative Party logo. While I'm glad that this practice seems to have been stopped, I cannot ignore that it continued for years. If taxpayers' money which was intended to allow Patrick Brown to communicate with his constituents has been used to put the Conservative Party logo on the front page of the local paper, there needs to be an accounting. Any taxpayers' funds used to pay for ads bearing the Conservative Party logo ought to be repaid, either by Patrick Brown, the Barrie Conservative riding association, or the Conservative Party of Canada.

Here are examples of election-style slogans used in some of the ads:

"Promises Made, Promises Kept"

"Delivering Real Results for Canadians"

"Reducing Taxes is in the Conservative DNA."

"CONSERVATIVES DELIVER $30 MILLION FOR LAKE SIMCOE"

Below is a list of dates on which the ads ran, along with the subject of the ad. Unless otherwise stated, all ads appeared on the front page of the paper. None of these ads were placed during an election campaign.

• 2006-07-25 1st ANNUAL COMMUNITY BBQ


• 2006-08-08 'GETTING TOUGH ON CRIME'


• 2006-10-03 GO TRAIN RETURNING


• 2006-10-17 PANCAKE BREAKFAST


• 2006-12-23 Christmas/Holiday greeting


• 2006-12-30 New Year greeting


• 2007-01-13 Passports


• 2007-01-17 2006 Goals ACCOMPLISHED [page A10] [full page ad]


• 2007-02-05 1ST ANNUAL CHILLIFEST


• 2009-02-10 1ST ANNUAL CHILLIFEST


• 2007-02-12 Energy Efficiency


• 2007-02-19 Passport Clinic


• 2007-02-24 Passport Clinic


• 2007-02-26 2007 Budget


• 2007-03-19 Bill C-405


• 2007-03-20 2007 Budget


• 2007-03-24 Lake Simcoe/Environment


• 2007-03-26 2007 Budget: Healthcare


• 2007-04-03 2007 Budget


• 2007-04-14 Lake Simcoe/Environment


• 2007-04-17 2007 Budget: Healthcare


• 2007-04-24 2007 Budget: Healthcare


• 2007-04-28 GETTING TOUGH ON CRIME


• 2007-05-04 2007 Budget: Healthcare


• 2007-05-11 FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS AT WORK IN BARRIE


• 2007-06-15 2ND ANNUAL FAMILY BBQ


• 2007-06-29 2ND ANNUAL FAMILY BBQ


• 2007-07-12 2ND ANNUAL FAMILY BBQ [page A2]


• 2007-07-13 2ND ANNUAL FAMILY BBQ


• 2007-07-14 2ND ANNUAL FAMILY BBQ


• 2007-10-12 PANCAKE BREAKFAST


• 2007-10-26 Tackling Violent Crime Bill


• 2007-11-16 Tax Relief


• 2007-11-30 Tackling Youth Crime


• 2007-12-21 Christmas/Holiday greeting


• 2007-12-28 New Year greeting


• 2008-01-12 GST cut


• 2008-02-12 2ND ANNUAL CHILIFEST


• 2008-02-16 2ND ANNUAL CHILIFEST


• 2008-02-28 Conservatives Deliver $30 Million to Keep Lake Simcoe Clean


• 2008-03-04 BUDGET 2008: Police Officers


• 2008-03-06 BUDGET 2008: Debt Repayment


• 2008-03-08 Tax Free Savings Accounts


• 2008-05-09 Passport Clinic/Justice Town Hall


• 2008-05-30 Justice Town Hall


• 2008-06-13 Passports


• 2008-07-11 3RD ANNUAL FAMILY BBQ


• 2008-09-03 CONSERVATIVES DELIVER $30 MILLION FOR LAKE SIMCOE [page A8] [full page ad]


• 2009-09-06 Scholarships


• 2009-09-29 White-collar Crime


• 2009-09-30 ROBERT KERR ACCESSIBILITY AWARD


• 2009-10-02 Stimulus Funding


• 2009-11-06 ROBERT KERR ACCESSIBILITY AWARD


• 2010-01-29 4TH ANNUAL CHILI FEST


• 2010-02-03 4TH ANNUAL CHILI FEST

If you know of an ad which is not listed here, please leave a comment. You do not need to register to leave a comment.

Playing Hooky to Play Hockey

According to a recent 'tweet' from Patrick Brown, the Barrie MP took part in a charity hockey game in Ottawa on the 24th of March:

# played in ALS charity hockey game in Ottawa tonight organized by MP Gord Brown and MP Paul Dewer. it was ottawa police vs mps from all sides 5:32 PM Mar 24th via mobile web

Source: http://twitter.com/brownbarrie

At the same time, the House of Commons Government Operations committee was meeting to study the government's economic stimulus package. Although Patrick Brown is a member of the Government Operations committee, he apparently chose to play hockey rather than attending the meeting.

Barrie residents may recall that when hundreds of his constituents rallied in downtown Barrie on January 23rd to voice their displeasure over Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament, Patrick Brown chose to be at a charity hockey game in Peterborough.

When the House of Commons Health committee met to discuss government preparations for the upcoming flu season on August 12, 2009, Patrick Brown, who is a member of that committee, did not attend. The 2009 'Hockey Night in Barrie' fund-raiser was held the following day.

There's nothing wrong with playing hockey. I'm sure that most of us would rather be playing hockey, or doing some other fun activity, instead of plugging away at our daily work routine, but as adults, we know that our responsibilities come first.

If Patrick Brown continues to make poor decisions, like putting hockey before his duties as a Member of Parliament, he might just find himself 'benched' by his constituents come the next election.

How Many Assistants Does Patrick Brown Need?

From Patrick Brown's web site:

TEAM BROWN

Introducing the MP’s Team

Here to help you in Barrie

Alison - Executive Assistant

Heather - Administrative Assistant

Pat - Seniors Liaison

Bonnie - Correspondence

Shawn - Constituency Assistant

Arlene McLean - Constituency Assistant



Working for you in Ottawa

Frances - Parliamentary Assistant

Source: http://www.servingbarrie.com/EN/team_brown/

20 hours of work that Patrick Brown won't be doing

January 25th, the day Parliament was originally scheduled to resume, has come and passed, and Barrie MP Patrick Brown has been doing his best to convince you that doing constituency work is an acceptable substitute for the work he ought to be doing in Ottawa:

busy day working in constituency office. lots of passports, immigration work and charity work 3:55 PM Jan 27th from mobile web

going back to my constit office for some evening meetings. constituency casework is certainly high volume in Barrie 2:08 PM Jan 26th from mobile web

working in my Barrie office all day serving constituents 6:14 AM Jan 25th from mobile web

Source: http://twitter.com/brownbarrie

Now let's take a look at what Mr. Brown had to say about his job before his boss, Stephen Harper, prorogued Parliament. Here is an excerpt from a December 4, 2009 article:

A couple of seats away and a row forward is Patrick Brown, 31, a Conservative who has represented Barrie, Ont., since 2006. A former two-term city councillor, Brown is a member of two committees, including the standing committee on health. He says committee work, in which groups of MPs study bills after they've passed second reading in the House, is what takes up a lot of his time.

“Legislation is introduced by a minister in the House, but the meat and potatoes of it, the study of it, is done in committee,” Brown says. He adds he usually spends about 10 hours a week on work for each committee.

Source: http://www.capitalnews.ca/index.php/news/whos-that-in-the-back

What happens to committees when Parliament is prorogued:

Committees, including special and legislative committees, cease to exist and all orders of reference lapse. Committee memberships, except the membership of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, are terminated and all Chairs and Vice-Chairs cease to hold office. The Panel of Chairs for legislative committees also ceases to exist.

Source: House of Commons Procedure and Practice

Prorogue: Suspending Accountability and Transparency

In yesterday's edition of The Barrie Examiner, MP Patrick Brown finally commented on his leader's decision to suspend Parliament, which was scheduled to resume on the 25th of January, until the 3rd of March:

"I would note that just because Parliament isn't siting in February, it doesn't mean we won't be very busy," said Barrie MPP Patrick Brown. "I already have a heavy schedule of events in Barrie that month supporting local causes."

Brown's main concern seems to be that he will be seen as continuing to collect his salary, without going to work, during his extended absence from Parliament. If Brown indeed has a "heavy schedule of events" in February, I haven't been able to find it. On his web site, a page listing "UPCOMING EVENTS" has not been updated since the summer of 2009. I then went to Brown's Facebook page and clicked on the Events tab and was greeted with the message "Patrick Brown does not have any upcoming events." A quick scan of his twitter messages failed to turn up any mention of events in February.

Then there is the question of whether attending events that are "supporting local causes" is an MP's job. In my opinion, a Member of Parliament's job can be summed up in two letters: MP. In case you've forgotten, Patrick, the 'P' stands for Parliament. If you're out of Parliament for 82 consecutive days, you're not doing your job. We don't pay MPs a salary of more than $150,000 per year to attend local charity events. Seeing how you went to all the trouble of becoming a lawyer, I'm rather surprised that you seem more interested in posing for pictures than working on legislation.

I can understand people being upset when highly paid public servants extend their own, already generous, winter break, but I don't think that's the main reason people are upset with Mr. Harper and the Conservatives. The Conservatives didn't promise us that the House of Commons would be in session for a certain number of days per year when they were elected. They did, however, promise us a government that would be accountable and transparent.

Mr. Harper didn't suspend Parliament to gives his MPs time off to watch the Olympics, he did it to avoid being held accountable by opposition MPs for his policy on the transfer of Afghan detainees. By continuing to ignore an order of Parliament to provide un-censored documents relating to that policy to a House of Commons committee, Mr. Harper and the Conservatives are showing us once again that their government is anything but transparent.

Brown's Biggest Benefactor Loses Law License

The largest individual contributor to Barrie MP Patrick Brown's federal campaigns has had his license to practice law revoked by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Here is the decision from the Law Society's web site:

Peter Brian Budd (1988), of the City of Toronto, was found to have engaged in conduct unbecoming a licensee for having been convicted of two Criminal Code charges, in that he did, with respect to each of two young persons, being in a position of trust or authority towards the young person, for a sexual purpose, touch directly the body of the young person, with a part of his body contrary to Section 153, Sub-section (1), clause (a) of the Criminal Code of Canada.

By Decision and Order dated December 17, 2009 the Hearing Panel ordered as follows:

1. The Lawyer's licence is revoked.
2. Counsel may make submissions on the matter of costs in writing, within 10 days of the date of the release of this order. Otherwise, there shall be no order as to costs.

(Counsel for the Society, Lisa Freeman / Counsel for the Lawyer, Janet Leiper)

According to an April 6, 2004 Canadian Press article, Budd was charged with 3 counts of sexual assault and 3 counts of sexual exploitation. On May 16, 2006 Budd was convicted on 2 of the sexual exploitation charges. He was given a 9-month custodial sentence. Budd's conviction was held up on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal (October 22, 2007). Budd appealed to the Supreme Court, but that appeal was also dismissed.

Budd's donations to Brown's campaigns:

Budd Peter Jun. 25, 2004 1,000.00 (2004 election campaign)
Budd Peter Apr. 26, 2005 1,000.00 (2005 nomination campaign)
Budd Peter Dec. 30, 2005 2,000.00 (2006 election campaign)
Budd Peter Jan. 4, 2006 2,000.00 (2006 election campaign)

Budd also contributed to Brown's riding association in 2008:

PETER BUDD Jan. 31, 2008 833.50 (Barrie Conservative EDA)

*UPDATE* Budd contributed to Brown's riding association again in 2009:

PETER BUDD Aug. 13, 2009 236.50 (Barrie Conservative EDA)

Source: http://www.elections.ca

Home Renovation Tax Credit Confusion

Patrick Brown's latest ten-percenter (front, back) reminds his constituents of the upcoming deadline to qualify for the Home Renovation Tax Credit. It's too bad he's still misinforming them via his web site:

"For the next two years, a new Home Renovation Tax Credit will apply to the cost of labour and supplies, and can save Canadians up to $1350 when they improve their homes."
http://www.servingbarrie.com/EN/8344/93501

"For the next two years, the new home renovation tax credit will apply to the costs of labour and supplies."
http://www.servingbarrie.com/EN/8344/81401

The Home Renovation Tax Credit is a one-year temporary tax credit for the 2009 tax year. Only qualifying work performed and goods purchased in the one-year period between January 28, 2009 and February 1, 2010 are eligible.

RVH Expansion: Who's paying and who's just taking credit

On page 2 of Barrie MP Patrick Brown's Fall 2009 newsletter, under the heading GETTING RESULTS FOR BARRIE, there is a section titled Construction Begins on RVH Phase 1 Expansion. In this section there is an artist's rendering of the expanded hospital, a photo with the caption "MP Brown and members of RVH at the sod turning..." (Note there's no mention of the other government representatives in the photo.), and a description of the new facilities that the expansion will bring. The section also mentions the cost of the expansion: $400 million.

Politicians are seldom shy when it comes to being recognized for government spending, and Mr. Brown is no exception. In fact, Mr. Brown devoted the entire front page of his newsletter to tallying the federal government's contributions to local projects. One item you won't find among Mr. Brown's list of federal government largesse is a contribution to the cost of the RVH expansion. The lion's share of the hospital expansion project is being funded by the province, while the City of Barrie has committed $52.5 million. The County of Simcoe has promised to contribute $20 million, and $34 million has been raised through local fund-raising efforts. The only level of government not contributing to the cost of the project, it seems, is Mr. Brown's. That doesn't seem to have stopped Mr. Brown from using the taxpayer's funds to try to associate himself with the project.

In his communications, Mr. Brown likes to point to increases in transfers to the provinces for healthcare spending but fails to tell you that the increases are set out in a law that was passed before his government took office.

After the 2008 Hockey Night in Barrie fund-raiser, Mr. Brown sent out glossy full-colour newsletters in which he claimed that _he_ got the idea for the fund-raiser after attending charity hockey games in Brockville and Peterborough.

Excerpt from 2008 newsletter
© 2009 CC BY-SA 4.0

Brown fails to mention that a fund-raiser for the RVH featuring NHL players called Hockey Night in Barrie took place on November 19, 2004, long before he had attached his name to the event.¹ Brown himself participated in a hockey fund-raiser for the RVH dubbed "Go for the Goal" that was held at the Molson Centre more than two years before _his_ first Hockey Night in Barrie. <sup>2

1</sup> Pucks for Buck, Cheryl Browne, The Barrie Examiner, November 13, 2004, p. C2
² Royal Victoria Hospital fundraising takes centre ice, Nicki Cruickshank, The Barrie Examiner, April 15, 2006, p. A3