(Ottawa) The campaign of candidate Patrick Brown, disqualified from the Conservative leadership race a few days ago, concedes in veiled terms that the carrots are cooked, and calls for a vote for Jean Charest. The co-president of the campaign has also sided with this camp.
Updated yesterday at 7:35 p.m.
“It is very likely that [l’appel de la décision] will not succeed before the vote, the Brown campaign acknowledged in an email sent Tuesday to its supporters. If so, Patrick has made it clear that he will support any new CCP leader except Pierre Poilievre. »
The fallen candidate will therefore vote for Jean Charest, because “in the end”, he believes that the former premier of Quebec “has the best chance of blocking the extremism of Pierre Poilievre”, we continue in the statement. .
Still, the mayor of Brampton, who was disqualified from the race by the organizing committee due to “serious allegations of wrongdoing” just over a week ago, is not throwing in the towel: he will fight against the decision taken by the body at the end of a “rigged process”, we are assured.
Reinforcement
In the middle of the day, John Reynolds, co-president of the Brown campaign, joined the Charest team.
The Quebec candidate is “the best choice to unite the Conservative Party of Canada and to form a national Conservative government”, and represents an option for those who “seek a serious alternative to the far-left identity politics of Justin Trudeau”, said writes this former Conservative MP in his letter of support.
Deploring the “tone used by certain campaigns”, which reinforces the feeling of division “within the party, not only between the members and our supporters themselves, but also between the members of the caucus”, the one who was briefly leader Acting Canadian Alliance in the early 2000s echoed some of the criticisms made by Patrick Brown in the hours following his expulsion.
“Right now, power is in the hands of the party establishment. It’s time to give it back to the Conservative base and give association presidents the respect they deserve” and choose a leader “who will offer Canadians ambitious ideas as well as serious solutions, not just slogans calling for more freedom,” says John Reynolds.
The dispute between Patrick Brown and the authorities of the Conservative Party is in the hands of the lawyers.
In the opinion of several observers, this disqualification gives a serious advantage to Pierre Poilievre.
The member for Carleton, who rallied the vast majority of the current Conservative deputation (60 elected out of 119) and who claims to have sold some 312,000 membership cards, could obtain a majority of points in the first round.
Patrick Brown’s campaign had estimated the number of membership cards sold at around 150,000. His name appears on the ballot papers; it remains to be seen whether those who had purchased a card will exercise their right to vote, which name they will put a cross next to and who will get their second choice in this preferential vote.
The vote will take place on September 10.