Former Patrick Brown Campaign Organizer Comes Forward as Whistleblower, Leadership Race Committee Says Patrick Brown ‘Knew Full Well’ Nature of Allegations
While the party hasn’t released details of the allegation, it has said it appeared to contravene financing rules under the Canada Elections Act and came from within Brown’s own campaign.
Brown himself has accused the party’s top officials of pushing him out of the race as a way to advantage his main rival, longtime Ottawa-area MP Pierre Poilievre. Poilievre’s campaign had said the allegation did not come from them.
"It was Pierre Poilievre's supporters who were pushing for this."@patrickbrownont speaks with @EvanLSolomon after being disqualified from the Conservative leadership race.
"The party wouldn't provide any details. It's impossible to respond to a phantom allegation." #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/VmFROSEP2o
— The Vassy Kapelos Show (@VassKapelosShow) July 6, 2022
A longtime Conservative organizer says Patrick Brown was personally involved in an arrangement that saw her paid by a third-party company for work she did on his leadership campaign. Debra Jodoin, through her lawyer, released a statement Thursday evening after the party spent the past two days dealing with the fallout from Brown’s disqualification from the race.
On Thursday, Jodoin, who describes herself as an experienced organizer who has been involved with the party and its predecessor for more than 20 years, revealed herself to be the whistleblower.
The committee organizing the Conservative Party leadership race says disqualified candidate Patrick Brown was well aware of the allegations against him, contrary to what Brown has stated in his defense.
In an email to party members on July 8, chair of the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC) Ian Brodie sought to reassure that the move to disqualify Brown earlier this week was justified.
“I would love to share all that we have. But we have legal restrictions of what we are to say when we are dealing with allegations of breaking federal law. That’s why we referred this case to Elections Canada,” Brodie wrote.
Brodie repeated that the party had “credible” and “verifiable” information about alleged wrongdoing by Brown, and that his campaign failed to properly address the allegations.
“Every opportunity” was given to the campaign to clarify the issue, he said.
“To be clear, the Brown campaign knew full well what the allegations were. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply incorrect.”
Looks like @patrickbrownont isn’t going down without a fight. Letters from lawyers have been sent. #cdnpoli #cpcldr pic.twitter.com/dV7mL4Hzyg
— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) July 7, 2022