Following Patrick Brown's disqualification from the Conservative Leadership race, frontrunner Pierre Poilievre's campaign said the Brampton mayor only has himself to blame.."For years, Patrick's conduct has demonstrated that he is the kind of person who will say and do anything to win. Yesterday's news was just the latest chapter in a career defined by numerous scandals, inquiries, and even criminal investigations related to political activities at all three levels of government," read a statement from Poilievre campaign spokesman Anthony Koch released Wednesday..On Tuesday night, the party's leadership committee released a statement claiming it recently become aware of "serious allegations of wrongdoing by the Patrick Brown campaign that appear to violate the financial provisions of the Canada Elections Act."."The information provided to date by the Patrick Brown campaign did not satisfy concerns about their compliance with our rules and procedures and/or the Canada Elections Act," they said..The Poilievre campaign pointed out this is "not the first time" Brown has been disqualified for running for public office for reasons of ethical impropriety. They were referring to Brown's resignation from his position as the leader of Ontario's opposition after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced..Poilievre's campaign also brought up the Ontario Integrity Commissioner finding him guilty of breaching ethics rules, including engaging in a scheme to cover up receiving a $375,000 loan to backstop his mortgage from a would-be Ontario PC candidate. ."Brown also had the distinction of being the only leader of a political party to have a nomination race investigated by law enforcement during his time at the helm," they said..Poilievre said as expected, in the hours since the decision was made, Brown "lashed out at our campaign and the party.".In an interview on CTV News with Evan Solomon on Wednesday, Brown said the party establishment was "very clearly nervous," with Brown's popularity, and they favoured Poilievre.."Pierre Poilievre was running paid television commercials in the GTA attacking my candidacy, and that's not the sign of a confident campaign," Brown said. "Clearly the party establishment wanted Pierre. I'm shocked they would take lengths this extraordinary to rob members of ... a democrat party of a democratic election.".The Poilievre campaign said "as always, when caught, Patrick tries to make himself into a victim, but ultimately the only person responsible for his disqualification is himself."."Our campaign will continue to focus on giving Canadians back control of their lives and making Canada the freest country on earth."
