[...]
It was
Brown's lack of support from the party base that stuck a nail in his political coffin. Conservative politicians like Donald Trump and Rob Ford were able to survive similar damaging allegations because their voters believed in their policy plan. Torontonians wanted to see an end to the "gravy train" at city hall, and blue-collar Americans wanted to see their jobs return from overseas. Those policies were enough to help Trump and Ford through their difficulties.
In contrast, Brown was counting on Ontarians being so fed up with the corrupt and dishonest Liberals that voters would just sweep him into office, regardless of his policies.
Now the Ontario PC Party is tainted. The only way to stop the bleeding is to motivate the base. [...]