In 2017, Maxime Bernier won 12 rounds of 13 rounds of voting in the Conservative leadership race. He was the first place on every single ballot except the last one, losing to Andrew Scheer 50.95% to 49.05%.
The result of the leadership race and party handling was questioned by some supporters of runner up Maxime Bernier and fifth place candidate Kellie Leitch due to discrepancies in the final ballot count.
Specifically a gap between the number of ballots cast and the announced result – a 7,466 vote discrepancy, which is greater than Andrew Scheer’s 7,049 vote margin of victory in the final round. An investigation could not be done as the ballot was destroyed after.
Ontario conservatives election in 2018
On January 24, 2018, Brown was accused by two women of engaging in sexual misconduct, which dated back to the time he was a federal MP. Brown denied the allegations and refused to step down.
Jan. 25: After pressure from within the party, he resigned as leader in the early hours of January 25. Barely a little more than four months to the provincial election.
Jan. 26: The PC caucus names Tory legislator Victor Fedeli as interim leader. The caucus further recommends that Fedeli carry the party through to the election, but the party executive announces that a leadership contest will be held instead.
Jan. 29: Former Toronto city councilor Doug Ford, brother of the notorious late mayor Rob Ford, becomes the first person to declare his candidacy for the party leadership.
Feb. 6: Brown breaks his silence in a tweet reaffirming his denial of all sexual misconduct allegations and saying “the truth will come out.”
Feb. 13: CTV reports one of Brown’s accusers has altered the timeline of her story but stands by the core events of her allegation. The network says the woman, who claimed she was still in high school at the time of the incident, was in fact of legal age
Feb. 15: Brown announces his intention to sue CTV for its reporting of the allegations against him.
Feb. 16: Interim Progressive Conservative leader Vic Fedeli says Brown has been kicked out of the caucus. With less than an hour to go before the deadline for candidates to register for the leadership expires. Brown joins the race, withdrew later.
Mar. Christine Elliott won 2 of 3 rounds. Doug Ford defeated runner-up Christine Elliott on the third ballot with 50.6% to 49.38% of allocated points.
It’s a trend – back in 2016
Back in 2016, Kinga Surma, a former Toronto city hall staffer for Doug Ford’s late brother Rob Ford, defeated Pina Martino for nomination in the Etobicoke Centre – Ford’s home riding.
A tape surfaced in 2018, in the tape, Doug Ford and Surma can be heard telling residents of Etobicoke Centre that it “won’t cost ya anything” to sign up and that the forms could be left partially blank.
“You don’t have to fill that out. She’ll take your name, number; just sign it,” Ford can be heard saying.
At a news conference, a 2016 affidavit from Martino was presented in which she says she encountered several people on the PC membership list who maintained they had not signed any forms or paid any fees. Ford had, however, invited them to the nomination meeting, according to the affidavit from Martino.
Jason Kenney Campaign Scandal
The leadership campaign of Jason Kenney collaborated with fellow candidate Jeff Callaway’s campaign during the party’s 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race, leaked internal UCP documents to undermine Kenney’s main political rival, Brian Jean.
Leaked emails between staff on the Kenney’s campaigns shed more light on the issue of an alleged collaboration against Jean. The documents also show Matt Wolf, a senior Kenney campaign staffer and his current deputy chief of staff, communicated regularly with Callaway’s communications manager Cameron Davies, and also on occasion with Callaway’s campaign manager, Randy Kerr.
Emails from both Wolf’s personal account and the official Kenney campaign account document months of communication between him and Davies, including proofs of ads and memes, research, timelines of ad drops, strategy tips, and talking points.
These unprecedented corrupt practices had been synonymous with the Conservatives way back and farther from when Harper’s ethic point man, Dean Del Mastro was jailed for election fraud.
