The Conservative Party of Canada has called on independent legal counsel to determine whether one of its internal committees has jurisdiction to hear the challenge of Patrick Brown, disqualified from the leadership race.
Mr. Brown has already retained the services of renowned lawyer Marie Henein, who had notably successfully defended host Jian Ghomeshi, accused of sexual assault.
Me Henein wrote to party officials last week asking that his Dispute Resolution Appeals Committee be convened and a hearing date set. She wanted to get an answer by last Saturday at the latest.
Party spokesman Yaroslav Baran confirmed that the authorities had responded on Friday evening, but to indicate that they wanted to know whether this Dispute Resolution Appeals Committee had jurisdiction to hear Mr. Brown’s challenge.
Mr Baran wrote that an independent lawyer had been retained “to provide his legal opinion on this important matter, which will guide the party’s response to Mr Brown’s lawyers”.
Mr. Brown’s campaign team, for its part, is examining what other options can be considered to challenge the decision of the Organizing Committee for the election of the leader.
Details of the allegation became public when Debbie Jodoin, a longtime Conservative organizer, released a statement through her lawyer last Thursday saying she had been paid by a company for her work on the campaign. of Mr. Brown and that he had helped to conclude the arrangement.
Contact with the Charest campaign
The Jean Charest leadership campaign has confirmed that she was approached by the same organizer, but that ties were severed by mutual agreement after learning she would be making a public outing regarding Patrick Brown.
The same day that M.me Jodoin made her public outing on Thursday, she told Jean Charest’s campaign that she would because they had discussed her joining the team, a campaign spokeswoman said.
Michelle Coates Mather claimed that Mme Jodoin had approached the campaign team on June 27 and that they were in talks to finalize a contract for her to help them get the vote out.
“She came to see us on July 7 to confirm that she was the whistleblower and would be making a public statement,” Ms.me Coates Mather.
“As a result of this discussion, she and our campaign reached a mutual agreement not to pursue the contract. »
Brampton City Hall
Separately, a spokesperson for Mr. Brown said over the weekend that the mayor of Brampton, in the GTA, will not announce his candidacy for re-election to the post in October until he will not have discussed it with his relatives.
Chisholm Pothier said Brown spent the weekend attending a multicultural festival in Brampton, about 45 minutes from Toronto, and celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Mr Brown had entered the Conservative leadership race without resigning as mayor of Brampton. He had said he would consider running again in the October mayoral election if he believed he could not win the federal race.
He has until Aug. 19 to file his candidacy for mayor, but Mr. Brown’s standing in the federal race changed dramatically last week when the Leader’s Election Organizing Committee voted to disqualify him. Committee members ousted him by an 11-6 vote over an allegation that he violated federal political finance laws.
Voluntary activity?
Although the party has not released any details of the allegation, the organizer came forward last week to claim that she was the one who reported Mr Brown to party gossip. She alleges that the candidate was involved in an arrangement whereby she was paid by a private company to work on his campaign.
Mr Brown’s team said the party leadership had refused to release full details of the allegation, making it difficult to respond. It was added that it had offered to reimburse the money paid to the organizer in question – the Brown team claims that it thought its work was voluntary.
Since his disqualification, Brown has also accused the party of sidelining him to favor veteran Ottawa-area MP Pierre Poilievre, considered his main rival. Mr. Poilievre and the party have denied that charge.
Ian Brodie, chairman of the Organizing Committee for the leader’s election, which voted to disqualify, emailed party members last Friday to explain that Mr Brown was aware of the allegations against him. He argues the party had to act because it couldn’t afford to have a candidate who was being investigated for violating federal laws.
Meanwhile, the five remaining candidates in the race flipped pancakes and waved to supporters at the Calgary Stampede over the weekend, with less than two months to go before the ballots were counted and the new nominee named. federal conservative leader.