EXCLUSIVE: Vote on Sloan expulsion could go either way, source

O’Toole announced Monday he was taking action to punt Sloan because he had accepted a $131 leadership donation from Paul Fromm.

The Conservative Party itself took a 10 per cent cut of the donation when they processed it and issued him a membership card.

But a Western Standard source said the main reason O’Toole is trying to get rid of Sloan is that he, along with Campaign Life, are trying to stack slates of pro-life delegates for March’s virtual Conservative convention.so can’t blame h

“The vote is in flux right now – the vote could go either way,” said the source, who spoke to the Western Standard on the condition on anonymity.

“There are dozens (of MPs) prepared to vote against O’Toole.”

“The attack on Sloan is not going well.”

The vote will be held by a virtual secret ballot during a Wednesday caucus meeting. A majority of the caucus is needed to vote on O’Toole’s side for the ouster to take place. An abstained ballot would effectively be a vote in favour of Sloan as a majority of caucus is needed, not a majority of actual votes.

The source said the O’Toole side is “panicking” and may decide to bring forward other alleged indiscretions to strengthen the case against Sloan. That could include charges of fundraising in other MPs’ ridings and his actions in delegate selections for the convention.

The Quebec caucus is expected to vote en masse for Sloan’s expulsion, said the source, adding they could be up against Ontario MPs because that province has the best organized social conservative movement in the country.

The question being asked amongst Tories tonight is, “What happens if O’Toole loses the vote?” said the source.

“No one knows what will happen. The Liberals could call an election at any moment,” said the source.

“It’s just the idiotic nature of this manoeuvre – if he wanted to get rid of Sloan there are many, easier ways to do it.”

Just one day before O’Toole announced that he wanted Sloan out of the party’s caucus, he issued a statement emphasizing he is pro-choice and that there was no place for the “far-right” in his party.

O’Toole is asking his MPs to expel Sloan out of the Tory caucus after he accepted a $131 leadership donation from what he says is a “well-known” Canadian neo-Nazi.

Paul Fromm made the donation to Sloan’s leadership campaign in August under the name ‘Frederick P Fromm’. The donation constituted approximately 0.01 per cent of the total raised by Sloan during the campaign.

Sloan, the MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington, came in fourth place in the Tory leadership campaign.

He was eliminated after the first round of voting in the four-person race getting 27,278 votes, almost 16 per cent of the total.

There have been calls in the past to remove him from caucus over his comments on gay rights.

Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard

dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com

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