Candidate Patrick Brown, who hoped to replace Erin O’Toole as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, was ejected from the race by the party’s election committee on Tuesday night due to “serious allegations of wrongdoing”.
Updated yesterday at 11:52 p.m.
“In recent weeks, our Party has become aware of serious allegations of wrongdoing by Patrick Brown’s campaign that appear to violate the rules governing the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act,” said Ian Brodie, president of the election committee of the Conservative Party of Canada, Tuesday evening.
The statement did not offer details of the allegations regarding Mr. Brown, who is also the mayor of Brampton, Ont. Members of Mr. Brown’s campaign were not immediately available to comment on the situation.
According to Brodie, the party’s leadership contest organizing committee informed Patrick Brown’s campaign of its concerns and requested a written response, deciding to revoke Brown’s access to the party’s provisional membership slate.
Information from Mr Brown’s campaign committee “did not address the concerns” of the organizing committee, which then recommended that he be disqualified from the leadership race.
“The Party will share the information collected with Elections Canada, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with and application of the Canada Elections Act,” added Mr. Brodie.
More than five candidates
In his statement, he also points out that he and the organizing committee did their best to be fair to Mr. Brown and give him time to refute the allegations.
On June 22, Patrick Brown’s campaign manager left him to support Michelle Rempel Garner, who was then planning to become a candidate for the United Conservative Party of Alberta, according to Global News.
The race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada now has only five candidates: Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, Pierre Poilievre, Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison.
With The Canadian Press