Ottawa — A longtime conservative organizer says he was personally involved in an arrangement that saw Patrick Brown pay from a third-party company for the work he did in his leadership campaign.
Debra Jodoin issued a statement through her lawyer Thursday night after the party spent the last two days dealing with a fallout due to disqualification from Brown’s race.
The chairman of the party’s leader election organizing committee said Tuesday that its members voted 11-6 to disqualify him from the campaign for “serious allegations of fraud.”
Brown claimed that the party had not provided details of the accusations against him. He said what was presented to the committee was an anonymous claim that someone working on his campaign was paid by the company.
The party has not released details of the allegations, but said it appeared to be in breach of funding rules under the Canadian Election Law and came from within Brown’s own campaign.
On Thursday, Jodoin, who describes herself as an experienced organizer who has been involved with the party and its predecessors for over 20 years, revealed that she is a whistleblower.
Jordin said in April 2022 that he participated in a campaign “at his request” to assist as a regional organizer the month after Brown announced that he would replace former Tory leader Erin O’Toole in the contest. rice field.
“Mr. Brown told me that I was hired by a company as a consultant and that company would allow me to volunteer in the campaign,” she said.
“He connected me with a third party by text message for that purpose. I trusted him, but over time I became more and more interested in the arrangement and it didn’t work. I began to suspect that it was. “
A statement asked Brown in June that the campaign would recover her costs, and he expressed surprise and said he was “riding it.”
“The company paid me and paid for me, not the Braun campaign,” she said.
Her lawyer, Jason Beichman, said Jodoin had shared her concerns with the party and demanded that her identity be kept secret.
“Based on that, she felt it was her duty to raise her concerns, leave it to others, and decide what further steps, if any, should be taken.” Beitchman said.
“MS. Jodoin explicitly rejects the proposal to do so on his own initiative, being forced or pressured by others to move forward.”
After Jodoin released her statement on Thursday, Brown’s campaign responded by repeating that the party was obliged to provide them with full details of the matter, saying they only learned them through the media. Said.
A statement circulated by campaign spokesman Chisholm Potier said, “After Jodoin provided the information, the Conservatives were obliged to act fairly and transparently.”
What usually happens in the process of a campaign involving thousands of people is that there is a problem directed to the campaign in question to fix it.
“Unfortunately, that wasn’t the goal, of course, so it didn’t happen in this case. The goal was to disqualify Patrick Brown from the leadership race and narrow the field.”
Brown himself accused the party’s top executives of driving him out of the race as a way to take advantage of his main rival, the long-time MP Pierre Poirievre in the Ottawa region.
Poilievre’s campaign stated that the allegations were not from them.
The allegations that led to Brown’s expulsion were presented to them last week and were the subject of a letter exchange between Brown and the party.
Mr. Potier posted part of a letter stating that the campaign sent to the party’s election organizing committee last week responded to concerns. He said it identifies a situation involving Jodoin.
The letter states that it was Jodoin who approached Brown for a job in the campaign. She said she wasn’t there at the time, and Brown introduced her to his friend, who is also a supporter.
The campaign said it was Brown’s understanding that Jodoin had volunteered for him outside of the work he was doing for his friends.
According to the campaign, otherwise they were ready to refund an amount that was understood to be less than $ 10,000. The campaign said it was unaware of similar cases.
A Canadian electorate confirmed that it was considering information about the allegations made against Brown on Thursday, but a spokesperson citing privacy did not reveal the nature or details of what it received.
The allegations against Brown included documents and text messages, according to sources who knew the situation in which they spoke on condition of anonymity.
In a statement, former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s communications director, Dimitri Sudas, said Jodoin always prioritized the Conservatives’ claims over himself.
Liberal Party lawmaker Adam Van Koberden also sent a letter to the Election Commission, requesting the party to investigate, saying it could have financially benefited from Brown’s possible violations.
Since his dismissal, Brown has hired prominent lawyer Marie Hennein as a lawyer, urging the party and those who have decided to dismiss him from the campaign to prepare for possible legal action.
He is also trying to appeal his expulsion, even though the party’s rules do not appear to allow the appeal process.
Brown’s expulsion occurred the same week that some conservatives began receiving ballots by mail.
They will expire by September 6th. The new leader will be nominated on September 10th.
Stephanie Taylor
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