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Brown responded to the report by saying he plans to lead “an inclusive government where intolerance will have no place,” adding “the comments made by MPP Nicholls were false and need to be immediately retracted.”

Nicholls did as ordered, issuing a statement saying the Tories “will not be revisiting divisive social issues” in opposition or in government.

“I retract and apologize for my comments of last week,” Nicholls said. “I fully support the direction the leader is taking our party.”

Brown is trying to rebuild the PCs as a more open and inclusive party, but he angered the social conservatives he courted for his leadership bid when he flip-flopped on the sex education issue in a September byelection and said he would no longer repeal Liberal updates to the curriculum.

In the TFO recordings from last week’s reception, Nicholls could be heard defending his decision — and that of at least 10 other Tory MPPs — to not attend a vote on legislation that granted more legal rights to same sex parents, even though some had been in the house minutes before for question period.

“We knew that it would be problematic for us and that it would have been the news of the day if we had been present and voted against,” he said. “We live in a very liberal media environment. They’re just looking for opportunities.”