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Business leader appears surprised to hear Falcon endorsement made public

A business leader listed as a supporter of Kevin Falcon's bid to lead the BC Liberal Party said he was surprised to hear his endorsement had been made public and declined to say who he is supporting.

"I don't know how you know that," said Peter Brown, the founder and chairman of the investment firm Canaccord, when asked about his support for Falcon. "I haven't said anything publicly. I've talked to some people."

On Feb. 2 the group Falcon 20/20 announced in a news release that Brown was supporting Falcon. The release quoted Brown saying Falcon's support in caucus and his experience in senior cabinet portfolios make him the best choice to hold the centre-right coalition together and build on the Liberal government's successes.

Falcon 20/20 spokesperson Hamish Marshall said he was surprised to hear Brown believed his endorsement would be kept private.

Marshall said he has emails with Brown discussing what Brown's quote in the news release would say, but said he could not share them. Brown knew the endorsement would be made public, Marshall added, "Unless there's some other guy using that [email] account."

There's no doubt Brown supports Falcon, Marshall said. "He had a conversation with Ryan Beedie and Ryan asked him to be a supporter," he said. "Peter's completely on board."

Beedie, who is leading the Falcon 20/20 group, is the president of The Beedie Group, a real estate development company, and a friend of Falcon from their days at Simon Fraser University.

While Brown described to The Tyee what he values in a party leader, he declined to say who he is supporting. "I think it's my personal business," he said. "My decisions are personal." Nor would he say whether he's donated money to any of the campaigns.

Update, 4:10 p.m.: Peter Brown called following the publication of the above story to say The Tyee was wrong to interpret his reaction as surprise and that despite his name being on a press release as a supporter of Kevin Falcon, he had not wanted to share that information with The Tyee.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.


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