Althea Raj has some details on Conservative party apparatus' takedown of Patrick Brown, in the Star. It is behind the paywall...........
Disqualifying Brampton’s mayor without clear proof of wrongdoing in the party’s leadership race just made things worse, Althia Raj writes.
www.thestar.com
A couple of bits from the above:
First, former NDP leader Thom Mulcair, who was also a minister in Charest gov't in Quebec is alleging that this was a move to sabotage Charest's chances of winning.
Now a direct quote from Althea:
"So the party, based on an undisclosed number of allegations and complaints — whose nature is also shrouded in secrecy — chose to remove an approved candidate, who’d spent $300,000 to enter the race and may have raised about $2.25 million for the party (the cost of a one-year membership multiplied by the 150,000 memberships Brown claimed he sold), without, it appears, fully investigating the matter itself."
and
"Several Conservatives told the Star that Brodie — the supposedly neutral chair of the committee overseeing the race — encouraged Brown to drop out of the contest, saying his attacks on perceived front-runner Pierre Poilievre were hurting the party. (The party did not return a request for comment.)"
Finally...
"Many Conservative MPs who’ve decided to back Poilievre have confided to the Star the strategic reasons behind the move: their personal ambition, their fear of Jenni Byrne, Poilievre’s top adviser and Harper’s former campaign director, or concern they’d be vulnerable to nomination challenges with the number of memberships Poilievre sold in their ridings."
*****
Leadership race shenanigans are nothing new.........certainly in both the 'red team' and blue' team races over the years. I can't speak with the same level of knowledge about team orange, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
That said, usually, the parties want to at least maintain the appearance of fairness, and the idea that the race isn't clearly rigged. (It usually isn't.....but there are thumbs on scales)....
This......is just looking bad. I'm not a Brown sympathizer nor a member of that party.......(or any other for that matter); but I borderline feel bad for the guy; moreso though I feel bad for democracy when even the illusion of fairness is lost.