Patrick Brown: Liberal MP Seeks Investigation Into Whether CPC ‘Profited’ From Alleged Wrongdoing – National | Globalnews.ca

Alleged wrongdoing by now-former Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown may have ‘benefited’ the party and warrant an investigation, a Liberal MP is urging the federal elections watchdog.

In a letter to Canada’s Acting Elections Commissioner on Thursday, Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden requested that the office investigate whether the federal party may have derived any benefit from Brown’s alleged campaign finance crimes when the party disqualified him on Tuesday. .

“There are serious doubts, given the nature of the Conservative Party’s leadership rules and the party’s membership fees, as to whether the party itself may have benefited from the alleged illegal actions of the leadership contender,” van Koeverden wrote in the letter, dated July. 7.

He suggested that such an alleged “benefit” could take the form of a “monetary windfall” to the party from membership dues sold by the Brown campaign or leadership dues paid to the party, as well as any “in-kind donations” in the form of labor or services that “advance the political interests of the Conservative Party.”

“Given these potential illegal profits accruing to the Conservative Party, any investigation should not be limited to an individual leadership contender, but should follow the money if there was a potential benefit to the Party as a whole,” he wrote.

The Canadian Elections Commissioner’s office is separate from Elections Canada.

Elections Canada is the agency that organizes and conducts Canada’s federal elections, while the Canadian Elections Commissioner is the official whose job it is specifically to ensure compliance with the Canadian Elections Act, which is the legislation that governs the conduct and finances during elections.

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Patrick Brown disqualified from the Conservative leadership race

Brown was disqualified from the race for the Conservative leadership on the night of July 5.

In a statement announcing the disqualification, Ian Brodie, chairman of the party’s Leadership Elections Organizing Committee (LEOC), said the party became aware in recent weeks of what he called “serious allegations” that Brown’s campaign violated “the financial provisions of the Canada Elections”.

Brodie said the Brown campaign had not satisfied the committee with its response when asked about the allegations and that the party would share the information with election officials.

Brown calls the matter a “ghost indictment.”

More to come.

– archived by Marc-Andre Cossette of Global News