The past president of the Simcoe North Progressive Conservative riding association is standing by embattled MPP Patrick Brown.
"I remain supportive of Patrick Brown," said Scott Macpherson, who was president of the association for 13 years and is currently vice-president of the party's Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte association.
Brown stepped down as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario early Thursday morning, hours after news broke that two women had accused him of sexual misconduct.
"I'm sad to hear about these allegations and I hope he can deal with these successfully," Macpherson said.
While he believes Brown "has done the right thing to resign" as party leader, Macpherson would not comment on whether Brown should also resign as MPP for Simcoe North.
Asked if the Simcoe North riding association would be meeting to discuss these allegations against Brown, Macpherson said, "There is no emergency meeting scheduled for either association at this time."
He said the allegations are not distracting the party from its No. 1 goal: "We still have a real problem at Queen's Park and we need to defeat (the Liberal government)."
Requests for comment from Simcoe North PC candidate Jill Dunlop, as well as her father, Garfield Dunlop, who vacated his long-held seat so Brown could run here, have been unsuccessful.
