Article content

For all the other moments #MeToo has wrought, the Patrick Brown story is seminal: A political leader is cut down like a sapling in the forest in a matter of hours, and none of his colleagues, in and outside of the Ontario Conservative party, and including the Ontario premier and the prime minister of Canada, have one word to say in the defence of fair play or the presumption of innocence.

This — not the anonymous allegations of Brown’s accusers from the shadows — is what is shocking and disgraceful about this story.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Christie Blatchford: What happened to Brown is fundamentally wrong. Every man in the world is now vulnerable Back to video

Kathleen Wynne spent nearly 18 minutes in front of the TV cameras at Queen’s Park Thursday. Only one journalist even bothered to ask her about due process.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

“These are allegations. He’s not had a chance to defend himself. Are you in any way concerned there is a bit of a public trial going on and is that fair?” the reporter asked.

“Again, I’m not going to comment on the specifics of the situation,” Wynne replied. “I do think that it was brave for these young women to come forward. I think that it was a hard thing for them to do, but the point I’m making this morning is that — we always, there will always be due process and there should be due process and there is a legal process that has to be part of this…”