Patrick Brown, a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race, has been disqualified, according to a statement released by the party on Tuesday.
In the statement, Ian Brodie, chair of the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC), states that Brown was disqualified after the chief returning officer investigated the allegations of Brown’s campaign’s violation of the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act.
The chief returning officer asked Brown’s campaign for a written response and withheld the interim membership list from his campaign.
“The information provided to date by the Patrick Brown campaign did not satisfy concerns about their compliance with our Rules and Procedures and/or the Canada Elections Act,” writes Brodie.
“The Chief Returning Officer has therefore recommended to LEOC that LEOC disqualify Patrick Brown and earlier tonight LEOC agreed to do so.”
Brodie added that the Conservatives will be sharing the information regarding Brown’s violation of the act with Elections Canada.
“Throughout the investigation into these allegations, the Chief Returning Officer and I have done our best to be fair to the Patrick Brown leadership campaign and provide them with the time they need to substantively refute these allegations,” states Brodie.
“We regret having to take these steps but we have an obligation to ensure that both our Party’s Rules and federal law are respected by all candidates and campaign teams. None of these problems has any impact on the integrity of the vote itself.”
Brodie concluded that the Conservative party “will not be speaking further on the subject” as the issue is “subject to further investigation.”
The current Conservative leadership race comes after former leader Erin O’Toole stepped down on Feb. 2 after the majority of caucus voted for his removal.
More to come…
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