Patrick Brown has been disqualified from the Conservative leadership race

OTTAWA –

The Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership election organizing committee said it has disqualified candidate Patrick Brown from the race to replace Erin O’Toole in the top job.

Electoral commission chairman Ian Brodie said in a statement that the party has learned of “serious allegations of wrongdoing” by Brown’s campaign that appear to violate funding rules in the Canada Elections Act.

The statement did not provide further details about the allegations, and Brown’s campaign was not immediately available for comment.

Brody says the chief returning officer informed Brown of his concerns and requested a written response, deciding to withhold the provisional list of members from his campaign.

He says the response from Brown’s campaign did not address concerns, and the chief returning officer recommended the leadership election organizing committee disqualify him, which he chose to do.

Brodie says the party will share what it has with Elections Canada and will not comment further.

He says in his statement that both he and the party’s chief returning officer have done everything in their power to be fair to Brown and provide time to rebut the allegations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 5, 2022.