‘Reprehensible, undemocratic behaviour’: Brampton mayor Patrick Brown’s campaign fires back after being disqualified from CPC leadership

In a statement issued today (July 6), Patrick Brown’s leadership campaign strongly criticized the decision to disqualify Brown from the CPC leadership election, and says it will be consulting its legal team.

Brown’s disqualification was reported late Tuesday night in a statement by Ian Brodie, Chair, Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC).

Brodie said in recent weeks, the party became aware of “serious allegations of wrongdoing by the Patrick Brown campaign that appear to violate the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act.”

“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. The Chief Returning Officer has therefore recommended to LEOC that LEOC disqualify Patrick Brown and earlier tonight LEOC agreed to do so,” said Brodie.

Brown’s leadership campaign says it was not present at what it calls the LEOC’s “secret meeting” and was not given a chance to defend against the allegations.

“This decision is based on anonymous allegations. Our campaign was never provided with the full details or evidence of these allegations, failing an even basic requirement of due process,” said Brown’s campaign.

The campaign has accused the party of disqualifying Brown in order to give the win to leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre, who has taken aim at Brown’s campaign on multiple occasions.

“This is reprehensible, undemocratic behaviour that breaks faith with hundreds of thousands of Canadians that embraced Patrick Brown’s vision of a modern, inclusive Conservative Party. This is an indictment of the CPC, and a party that is not serious about winning a general election.”

The campaign says it is currently consulting its legal team.

More updates to come as the situation develops.