Sexual misconduct allegations and resignation
On January 24, 2018, Brown was accused by two women of engaging in sexual misconduct, which dated back to the time he was a federal MP. Brown denied the allegations and initially refused to step down. Four senior staffers from Brown's campaign had advised him that he should resign as party leader; he did not accept their advice. In consequence all four staffers resigned from his campaign team. After pressure from within the party, he resigned as leader in the early hours of January 25. A day later, fellow MPP, Lisa MacLeod revealed that she heard rumours about similar allegations from former National Hockey League player Eric Lindros. Dimitri Soudas, former director of communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and volunteer for the campaign, suggested the allegations were baseless, saying, “All media organizations were turning over every single stone that they could find, and they couldn’t find anything.” A Globe and Mail article revealed that Brown's staff had expressed similar concern with Brown's past relationships after he became leader. One of these was with Tamara Macgregor, a former staffer within Brown's office and daughter of Karma Macgregor, a former PC candidate.
The day after he resigned, Brown was succeeded on an interim basis by Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. Fedeli, who was unanimously elected by caucus, asked Brown to take a leave of absence from Queen's Park while he defended himself against the allegations. In addition, Fedeli announced that he would not sign Brown's nomination papers if he attempted to run in a Barrie riding at the June 7 provincial election. Brown had intended on running in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte in that election, but Fedeli's announcement would mean that he would have to run as an independent.
In one incident, there was an allegation that Brown exposed himself to a teenager and asked her to engage in oral sex after plying her with alcohol. The accuser alleged that she was an 18-year-old high school student when the oral sex incident occurred; but on February 13, three weeks after the first public report, she amended her claim to say she was a year older than she had previously maintained, and was therefore over the legal drinking age. Corrections were subsequently made on the initial news articles. In the other incident, Brown was alleged to have kissed, without consent, a female aide in his employ while in his bedroom. Brown later took a lie detector test and claimed that he felt his name was cleared. No charges were laid as a result of either alleged incident and on April 23, 2018, he sued CTV for $8 million in damages. He then entered the Ontario PC leadership race less than two hours before the deadline.
In March 2022, Brown and CTV reached a settlement, where CTV expressed "regrets" over the incorrect reporting of certain details in the article; no money was paid out to Brown by CTV as part of the settlement.
Brown was ejected from the PC caucus on February 16, 2018, following reports that he was claiming he hadn't actually resigned as party leader and a series of Facebook posts in which he attacked the credibility of his accusers. Later that same day, Brown registered as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative leadership election, pending approval from the party, and on February 21, after being vetted, Brown was given the "green light" by the PC Party to run for the leadership.
Brown officially launched his second leadership campaign on February 18 with a rally in Mississauga.
On February 20, PC MPP Randy Hillier filed complaints to the Ontario integrity commissioner alleging that Brown had breached the province's ethics rules around down payments over his 2016 purchase of a $2.3 million waterfront house on Lake Simcoe, a loan from a friend and undeclared travels. The house was listed for sale in 2018. On April 28, 2018, a 60-page report by the commissioner found out that Brown breached the Member's Integrity Act four times over matters involving his personal finances, but there was insufficient evidence to find him in breach over alleged travel violations.
Brown withdrew his candidacy for party leadership on February 26, 2018, citing the difficulties of simultaneously running for leader while fighting against allegations against him. His withdrawal came days after the revelation that the integrity commissioner was investigating Brown for alleged financial improprieties and several hours after a report revealing his apparent interference, while he was leader, in a Tory candidate nomination that is then being investigated by Hamilton Police for fraud. Brown's supporters cited harassment against members of his family as one cause of his decision to withdraw. Brown's $100,000 registration fee was not refunded by the party.
After the election of Doug Ford as the new leader, there were rumors that Brown would not be allowed to run under their banner.
The Progressive Conservative Party's nomination committee unanimously ruled on March 15, 2018, that Patrick Brown would not be eligible to run as a PC candidate in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte for the June 7, 2018 election. Brown announced on Twitter shortly afterward that he would not run as an independent candidate in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte. It was later reported by the National Post that a Snover Dhillon, a convicted fraudster banned by the federal Conservatives, played a role in all those nomination irregularities. Following his departure from provincial politics, Brown restarted his law practice and accepted a job as vice-president of a telecommunications company in Vaughan.
