It is the eve of the federal election, Andrew Scheer is literally swimming in scandals. Thus far, two collusion with a third party complaints have been filed with Election Canada against the conservatives party within the last 30 days.
Today, Warren Kinsella’s firm, Daisy Group consulting firm, was reported to have been contracted to run media campaign to put the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) on the defensive and keep leader Maxime Bernier out of the federal leaders’ debates, according to documents provided to CBC News.
The plan was first reported Friday night by the Globe and Mail. Maxime Bernier has filed a complaint with Election Canada. This is the second time a complaint of collusion with a third party has been filed against the conservative party.
The documents provided to CBC outline the work done by several employees of Daisy on behalf of an unnamed client. A source with knowledge of the project told CBC News that client was the Conservative Party of Canada.
Andrew Scheer – no answer
Andrew Scheer refused to answer if the conservative party contracted Kinsella’s firm to run a smear campaign on Maxime Benier, the leader of the PPC. Scheer simply pull out an unfounded law out of his hat.
The @Globeandmail asks @AndrewScheer #Kinsella was apparently hired to do your party’s dirty work in attacking @MaximeBernier, with the condition that the contract wouldn’t be traced back to the #Conservative‘s
How do you think the public will perceive this?#KinsellaGate pic.twitter.com/0032npzg52
— Jaro Giesbrecht🇨🇦 (@JaroGiesbrecht) October 19, 2019
Warren Kinsella statement
“I’m a lawyer; I’m not interested in getting disbarred…lawyers are not permitted to simply break vows of confidentiality. Only the client can let you do that. The client, here, hasn’t.” Kinsella wrote in a statement released on his website this evening.
After the news broke, Kinsella has since deactivated his Twitter and Facebook accounts where he was an active user.
Maxime Bernier’s response
In a statement to CBC News on Friday, the executive director of the PPC said, “It hardly comes as a surprise that the Conservative Party of Canada would be behind such disgraceful and cowardly tactics.”
“As our Leader Maxime Bernier stated when he left the CPC and repeated on numerous occasions since then, they are ‘morally and intellectually corrupt.’ And today, this story proves it without a doubt,” Johanne Mennie said in an email.
Last month, ethics watchdog, Democracy Watch, had called on Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Côté to investigate whether the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the conservatives broke the Canada Elections Act.
The complaint centres on the fact the lobby group and the Conservatives have both done business with an advertising firm co-founded by Hamish Marshall, who is Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s campaign manager.
These connections, along with revelations about three events this past spring involving Scheer and oil industry executives, “point to a relationship of collaboration and support” that would give Côté “reasonable grounds to investigate,” the complaint reads.
