Ottawa –
Conservative chairman Ian Brody says he sees no scenario in which the race can be postponed, even when party members worry about the long wait for membership.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Brody said the candidates had registered “many, many new members” before last Friday’s deadline and party officials were working to put the voter lists on the campaign.
Officially, the party is silent on the number of candidates vying in the tent for this leadership race, but insiders estimate it could be up to 600,000 – a party record.
Former Milton MP Lisa Wright says the party is six to eight weeks behind in confirming all these memberships and is worried about the party’s ability to get ballots on time.
“They can’t process them, they can’t send ballots, they can’t count ballots. I mean, I don’t know where this is going, “Wright said, speaking on the Curse of Politics podcast on Tuesday.
“I am more worried about how this process will develop than about anything else.”
Brody says he expects the party to meet all deadlines set in the rules for electing leaders.
The rules and procedures state that the party must send voter lists to returned employees by July 8, but must not provide the final list of candidates by July 29.
Several camps have put pressure on the party to release a preliminary voter list as soon as possible, which is key for candidates hoping to win their opponents’ supporters ahead of the September vote.
Roman Baber’s campaign issued a statement Tuesday suggesting postponing the publication of the preliminary list would mean “significant damage” to his campaign.
The only candidates to announce the number of members sold are Pierre Poalier with more than 311,000, Patrick Brown with more than 150,000 and Jean Charest with “tens of thousands”.
Beaver, Scott Aichison and Leslin Lewis did not boast of their membership registration.
Poilievre spokesman Anthony Koch says the campaign has full confidence in the party to meet its deadlines.
“We would hate to see other campaigns begin to call into question a fair and impartial process, given Pierre Poalier’s success in selling membership in Canada,” Koch said in a statement.
The leadership elections are scheduled for September 10.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 8, 2022.
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