Evidence of meeting #134 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was campaign.
A video is available from Parliament.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
I think we had, yes, some great people involved in the campaign.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
If it is true that these individuals were from your campaign, then there's no reason not to believe them.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
Well, I think you'd have to speak to them directly. What I was trying to—
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
No, that's not what I'm asking, Mr. Brown. I'm not asking you about speaking to them. I'm saying that you trust the people in your campaign. You think they're honourable people and if they say something, it should be believed. I think you've already made that clear. Is that correct?
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
It's fair to say that I think they're good, trustworthy people.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Something else that one of them said was, “It was also made clear to organizers of events that Indian consulates had told them you can't invite Patrick Brown to these diaspora kind of events where the consulate is going to be involved.” Were you aware that you were not allowed to go to events when the consulate was involved?
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
There was one event mentioned in the CBC article, and I can share that I was disinvited to that event.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Let's pick up on that for a second, Mr. Brown. You are aware of this event, just as whoever this anonymous source was was aware of the event. That must mean that these people were actually part of your campaign. I mean, how else could they have known about the event that you just said you knew about? I think it's reasonable to assume that the sources were close to and high up in your campaign. Would you not agree?
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
I think in the case of that event, it was—
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that.
You've made it very clear that you trusted the people in your campaign. They're aware of this issue, these anonymous sources. You're aware of the issue because you just admitted it to us here. Therefore, the individuals that are being cited as sources by the CBC must have been close to your campaign. Would you not agree with that? What other conclusion could you possibly draw?
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
I think you'd have to ask those sources—
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
No. I'm asking you if you draw the same conclusion as me.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
What I'd say is that I can answer any question about the incidents that were raised—
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Think about it for a second. I'm drawing the conclusion that since you knew that you were disinvited and they knew that you were disinvited, obviously they had to be very close to your campaign. Therefore, I think it's safe to say that we can treat these anonymous sources as legitimate. I think this is a fairly easy assessment to conclude on. You must agree with that.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
You're asking me to agree with the assumptions you're making.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
I think in the case of that event, there is a level of accuracy there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Iqwinder Gaheer
Thank you.
We have Ms. Dancho for five minutes. We're in the fourth round now.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Thank you, Mayor Brown, for being here and sitting through that last round of questions. I'm not going to apologize on behalf of the Liberals, but that was quite embarrassing.
I would say, Mr. Brown, that there are some serious allegations being lobbed at you here. Do you have any comments on how you feel about the seriousness of some of the questions that are coming? I feel they're kind of silly at this point, but it's over to you for your thoughts.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
Well, I think sometimes it's difficult to answer a long preamble with a yes or no. Sometimes, with the nature of these questions, they're not a simple yes or no.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I want to go back again to some of the concerns you're hearing from your community. This is, as you know, a study on the alleged interference in Canada from India. You have outlined quite a bit about how your community is feeling and the anxieties they're having over this. I'm hearing that as well.
You mentioned Peel Region in your last round with me. We know that the stats from police say that one woman is strangled every single day in Peel. Do you have any concerns—I'm sure you do, obviously—about the violence against women that you're seeing? How has your community reacted to this quite revolting statistic in Canada? In 2024, it's just unbelievable.
Mayor of Brampton, As an Individual
Yes, it's horrifying. We've declared a gender-based violence epidemic in Peel Region. The city of Brampton has as well. Councillor Rowena Santos and Councillor Navjit Brar have been quite outspoken in raising concerns about this epidemic we're struggling with.
I sit on the Peel Police Service Board and look at all the statistics. The one that I find most harrowing is that, as a society, we have not effectively dealt with the rise of this and it continues. When I started six years ago as mayor, I looked at the numbers for IPV—intimate partner violence—and I believe there were 7,000 calls a year. I think we're up to close to 20,000 now.
I don't think that's unique to Peel Region. We're seeing that across the country. There is an alarming rise in intimate partner violence, and we need to, as a society, find out how we can deal with this because the current approach isn't working.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Did you say 20,000 cases of intimate partner violence?