An Ontario Progressive Conservative attack ad against Premier Doug Ford’s competitor, Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, has sparked outrage from Brampton’s mayor, Patrick Brown.
The election ad captioned “Bonnie doesn’t care about Brampton” features a three-second clip of the now-Ontario Liberal leader saying, “I don’t go to anything in Brampton; it’s not my city. I don’t care.”
The ad did not provide any additional information or context to the statement and did not note the date Crombie said it. It’s possible that the audio clip was taken from when she was the mayor of Mississauga.
As mayor, she was often at odds with Brown.
Crombie did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
Brown, a former Ontario PC leader, released a statement on X condemning Crombie’s comments.
“For the Ontario Liberal leader to say she doesn’t care about Brampton is outrageous and wrong,” Brown said. “For someone seeking the highest office in Ontario, it’s appalling.”
Brown lauded the size of his city, the third largest in Ontario, and the “good people” who live there.
“Those people deserve to be recognized – not ignored. Not dismissed,” he said.
“Bonnie Crombie, this is not the way someone who aspires to be Premier should be talking about her own people. I hope you will withdraw those comments now and apologize.”
Also worth noting is that Brown’s mother-in-law, Silvia Gulatiari, is Ontario’s Conservative candidate for Mississauga East-Cooksville.
The social media comments responding to the attack ad largely criticized the ad. Many of its critics identified themselves as conservatives.
“Never thought I’d have anything in common with Bonnie, but here we are,” one X user said.
Jordan Freeman, another X user, said, “For the first time in a long time, I agreed with a Liberal on something.”
Another sarcastically questioned if the clip was meant to be an attack ad or an ad to make Crombie more likeable.
“A three-second quote taken out of context? If that’s the best Doug Ford can do, he’s in trouble,” another said.
Much of the ire for Brampton in the comments to the ad lay in its rising crime rate and its notoriety as a destination for individuals coming to Canada, via Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mass immigration policies.
