The Commissioner of Canada Elections is looking into alleged violations of political finance rules within the team of Conservative Party leadership candidate Patrick Brown, just as the first ballots for the party’s election have begun to appear in mailboxes.
The lawyer for one of Patrick Brown’s campaign organizers said she raised her concerns with the Conservative Party of Canada after he told her it was okay to “be employed by a company as a consultant, and then that company made me volunteer for the campaign. »
A spokesperson for the federal agency “responsible for ensuring compliance with and enforcement of the Canada Elections Act” confirmed that the commissioner had received information regarding Mr. Brown’s sudden removal from the Conservative leadership race.
Invoking the confidentiality of the files, the commissioner will however not divulge the nature or the details of what he has received.
The allegations come from Mr. Brown’s own team. According to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, these allegations are accompanied by documents and text messages.
Members of the Conservative Party of Canada’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) voted this week, 11 to 6, to disqualify Mr Brown from the race. The COEC President said he had become aware of serious allegations of wrongdoing.
Mr. Brown did not leave the race quietly. Since his disqualification, he has criticized the party, saying he was not told the details of the allegations against him and that his team did their best to respond.
He has since retained the services of renowned lawyer Marie Henein, who has warned the Conservative Party and those involved in the decision to prepare for an anticipated legal action. She also maintained that her campaign did nothing wrong.
Mr Brown argues the party has withheld specific details of the allegations made against him, leading to what he describes as difficult circumstances to respond properly.
Although his name has been erased from the party’s list of candidates, his name will still appear on the ballots, the first batch of which, according to the party, was recently mailed out.
With a staggering 670,000 members registered to vote for the next Conservative leader — a record for any federal political party, according to the Conservatives — at least two campaign teams, including Mr Brown’s, have expressed concerns about the timing where the party sends the ballots.
“It is curious that the ballots came out before the list of members was finalized. This means that campaign teams have less than a week to persuade certain members,” wrote Michelle Coates Mather, communications director for Jean Charest’s campaign.
“That said, we remain confident in our ability to get our vote — regardless of when ballots are received, all verified members will have their votes counted. »
Mail-in ballots are expected no later than September 6 for the party to reveal its next leader on September 10.
The idea of the party behind the staggering is to start with the members whose information they have already verified and then send the others to the new members after the verification process is complete, as the campaigns have had the opportunity to challenge these new registrations.
Every campaign except Mr. Brown’s — who was disqualified for alleged violations — has received a preliminary voters list, and the party must finalize the voters list by July 29.
Another factor considered by the party is Canada Post’s ability to handle so many thousands of mail-in ballots.
Mr Brown’s campaign manager John Mykytyshyn told The Canadian Press he had previously raised concerns about how party headquarters planned to send out ballots in batches, starting with those who are already members, followed by those who are new.
“By doing it according to the length of your membership […] this means that some candidates have an advantage among existing members. It’s an unfair advantage,” he argued, but declined to name names.
Mr Brown says he has recruited more than 150,000 new members, while Mr Poilievre’s team says they have registered 312,000 memberships through their campaign website.
Mr Mykytyshyn argued that someone who gets a ballot earlier has a “distinct advantage” because they not only have more time to complete it, but also to ask for help if they need it. needs, adding that there is no guarantee of how long it takes for a ballot to travel through the mail, which could impact its timely arrival.
In response to the complaint from Patrick Brown’s team, party spokesman Yaroslav Baran wrote: “You’re kidding, aren’t you? Seriously ? The voting deadline is September 6. »