Brown says Conservative establishment, Poilievre campaign worked to oust him from leadership race
CBC
Patrick Brown says members of the Conservative Party establishment and supporters of leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre worked to disqualify him from the leadership race because they feared his progressive approach to conservatism was going to win.
"The party establishment was nervous that Pierre Poilievre wasn't going to win. And his supporters, Pierre Poilievre's supporters, are the ones behind this disqualification," Patrick Brown told host Vassy Kapelos on CBC News Network's Power & Politics Wednesday.
"They know we brought in 150,000 very motivated new Conservatives from diverse communities. They wanted to take the party in a different version, a different path, than his version of extreme conservatism."
Brown said that his decision to take positions "that the party hadn't taken before" made some in the party "uncomfortable" and prompted a backlash against him.
"I said very clearly, it doesn't matter who you love, where you're born, the colour of your skin, what God you worship. We are going to fight for everyone. I said that I would attend Pride parades, I would challenge Islamophobia," he said.
Brown was ejected from the Conservative Party leadership race Tuesday evening by the party's Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC). The committee said Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., was being dropped from the race in response to "serious allegations of wrongdoing" related to financing rules.
The LEOC vote was 11 to 6, according to sources with knowledge of the decision.
Sources have told CBC News that there are allegations that at least one corporation paid some of Brown's campaign workers. The sources said the LEOC's decision to disqualify Brown was based on more than just verbal allegations and cited documents and financial records.
The sources said that Brown's campaign was notified of the allegations verbally last Wednesday, and then by a formal letter — in accordance with the party's leadership race rules — on Thursday. Brown's campaign responded to that letter on Friday.
Conservative Party president Rob Batherson said Brown's campaign was "well aware" of the allegations and "nobody should be caught off guard" by the decision to disqualify him.
"I think there was a lot of good-faith effort on behalf of the Leadership Election Organizing Committee," Batherson told Kapelos on Wednesday.
WATCH: Patrick Brown speaks out after disqualification from Conservative leadership race
When pressed by Kapelos for evidence supporting his allegation that Poilievre's team was behind his ouster, Brown claimed the Ontario MP's supporters on the LEOC were pushing for his disqualification.
"On top of that, members of Pierre's campaign had even communicated to my campaign chair, John Reynolds, that they were going to be successful in pursuing this," Brown told Kapelos.