OTTAWA — Toronto lawyer Joel Etienne is demanding to be allowed back into the Conservative party leadership race, and is urging the party to explain exactly why it rejected his candidacy.
In a nine-page appeal of his disqualification, Etienne blasts organizers of the federal leadership contest for allegedly throwing up numerous roadblocks to his campaign, and insists he was in compliance with the rules every step of the way — including raising all of the money required , and then some.
“The qualifying criteria in this campaign for a non-career politician were incredibly arduous to say the least,” his campaign wrote in its appeal.
“Our campaign never complained — not once.”
Etienne, a past candidate for the party in York Centre, alleges the trouble when he sat down for his interview with the leadership election organizing committee, known as LEOC.
It was a hostile process, he said, which he did not find entirely unusual. But when he challenged why it seemed the party was so convinced he had “skeletons” in his closet, the answer surprised him.
“The matter that was put to Mr. Etienne by LEOC was that his lifelong human rights work defending the persecuted Chinese Falun Gong community against the vagaries of the Chinese Communist Party would cause problems for the party in terms of the party’s electability with Canadians of Chinese heritage and origin,” says the formal appeal of his disqualification to the party’s dispute resolution committee.
A copy of his argument was obtained by the Star. Etienne declined to comment.
On Wednesday, the party said it had only just received its own copy of Etienne’s allegations and wanted to review them before it could comment.
The party’s review of the 2021 election concluded that it lost support in some ridings with large Chinese populations, a fact one defeated MP claimed is linked to Chinese state interference spurred on by the party’s hard line toward Beijing.
The party ultimately gave Etienne the green light to run, but he further alleges the time it took to set up his online portal to receive donations meant he had to rely on paper forms.
Then, when he showed up with those forms and the required signatures in support of his bid ahead of last Friday’s deadline, it was all rejected.
Etienne is one of three candidates disqualified after believing they had met the entry requirements: a $200,000 fee, a $100,000 refundable compliance deposit, and 500 signatures in support of their bid from 30 ridings in seven different provinces or territories.
The other two rejected candidates are Saskatchewan businessman Joseph Bourgault and BC businessman Grant Abraham. Both have said they are also seeking more answers and may consider filing appeals.
Allegations they may have been rejected due to their positions on issues like abortion and COVID-19 were rebuffed by the party.
“Any prospective candidate who did not meet the requirements was informed of this fact and the reason or reasons why they did not meet the requirements set out under the rules,” executive director Wayne Benson said in a statement on Monday.
“Final verification was based on the requirements set out under the rules, not any prospective candidate’s political beliefs.”
All three men have said they never received the specifics on why their applications were denied.
As part of his appeal, Etienne is demanding that data, as well as an outside audit of how the party applied the rules in the case of his donations and signatures.
But in his appeal, he also suggests politics were at play and urged the party to reconsider.
“Please don’t guide yourselves with petty calculus wondering what composition of candidates on the ballot would help your favorite candidate reach a successful outcome,” he wrote.
“Please operate from the fiduciary trust that Canadians have bestowed upon you, the moral trust of ensuring that the Conservative party, and Canadians have an opportunity to enjoy the fruits and benefits of democracy.”
Six candidates were confirmed by the party to run in the race: Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Patrick Brown, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre.
All met the fundraising and signature requirements well ahead of Friday’s deadline, while Etienne, Bourgault and Abraham were racing against the clock.
Etienne said he ultimately submitted $359,225 after scrambling to get the payments processed when the party initially refused to take the paper forms.
“A check that could always bounce was readily acceptable currency by the (party) executive, but not their own fulfilled credit card donation forms?” he writes in his appeal of him.
While the entry fee was a total of $300,000, of which $100,000 is refundable, the party takes a cut of all the donations, meaning candidates had to actually raise more.
And while candidates had to submit 500 signatures in support of their bids from 30 ridings across the country, many campaigns submit far more in case any of the signatures are challenged.
Etienne insisted to the party his signatures were all valid, which he knew because the same people had signed other nomination papers and those were accepted.
It is party members, not the executive, who should decide if his campaign has merit, he wrote.
“Actively disenfranchising the loyal voices of supporters and candidates loyal to a party is a moral act of folly. It is a corruption of democracy at its core,” he wrote.
“If advocacy of human rights on behalf of the Falun Gong community should stop our campaign from obtaining sufficient support to win, then the party members should decide.”
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