The Rapid Fall of Pat Brown and the Sudden Rise of Princess Caroline Mulroney

The King is Dead- Long Live the New Princess Caroline Mulroney. Politics is a dirty, dirty, dirty, zero-sum, winner take all business. Or to paraphrase my favorite cynical political philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, “Ontario Conservative politics since the Harris era, is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. One day Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown is cruising to a sure minority or majority political victory. The next day, his political career is destroyed over allegations of sexual misconduct by two anonymous women.

#MeToo strikes again. No due process. No presumption of innocence. But this is hard-nosed, down and dirty politics

#MeToo strikes again. No due process. No presumption of innocence. But this is hard-nosed, down and dirty politics. Unlike Rob Ford or Donald Trump, Brown did not have the personal strength or personal loyalty of his staff and followers to withstand this brilliantly-timed hit job to his character. It seemed within minutes of Brown publicly denying these allegations, his campaign director, deputy campaign director, communications director and others had jumped ship. Leaving poor Patrick, alone, solitary. How nasty and brutish. My friendly conservative social media conspiracy theorists pointed their accusatory fingers to old political warrior, former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. They suggested on Facebook that Brian had engineered a savage political coup against the Joe Clark-like Brown in support of his daughter Caroline’s leadership bid. Machiavelli would have been impressed. By Jove, they could be right. I remember like it was yesterday, Brian Mulroney working his evil magic behind the federal Conservative scene undermining Joe Clark, the then leader of the federal Conservative party in ’82 and ’83. I remember Mulroney and his supporters forcing Clark to call a leadership race. I remember Mulroney seizing this once in a lifetime political opportunity and winning the leadership from the clueless and hapless Clark in ’83. I remember Brian Mulroney brilliantly winning two majority elections in a row in ’84 and ’88. It looks like déjà vu, all over again.

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The timing is perfect for a female leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative party

The timing is perfect for a female leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative party. Out with the horn dog frat boy Patrick Brown and in with the tough, smart Caroline Mulroney. Caroline is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University law school. She is a lawyer, a venture fund manager and philanthropist. She is a mother of four children. She is not yet a member of the Ontario legislature. But she is running in a very safe Conservative seat outside the Greater Toronto area in an Ontario small town/ rural riding called York Simcoe that was formally held by Conservative Julia Munro since 1995. Caroline is favored to win that seat in the upcoming provincial election. I believe that if she throws her hat in the ring, she will win the upcoming provincial leadership and beat Premier Kathleen Wynne and the NDP leader Andrea Horwath in the June provincial election. Unlike our content-free Liberal Prime Minister Mr. Selfie Justin, Caroline is educated, intelligent, articulate and she has had successful careers in law and in business. In this crazy 24/7 media world, Caroline is telegenic, camera-ready, charismatic and youthful. She has the good looks of her mother Mila and the street smarts of her father, Brian. She is an attractive, urbane, sophisticated public figure who will be representing the Conservative heartland. With Caroline as leader, the Tories will finally break into Toronto’s voter rich suburban ridings. That is the key to beating Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal party. Caroline Mulroney is Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s worst nightmare.