Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre’s campaign issued a formal complaint to the Conservative Party, alleging Patrick Brown's team engaged in paid-for party membership fees and other undeclared expenditures..Poilievre’s national campaign Co-chair and Conservative MP Tim Uppal sent a letter to the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC), on June 10 to inform the Conservative party of what Uppal said were “concerning membership sales practices” from the Brown campaign..According to the National Post, Uppal said the Poilievre campaign received “repeated reports” people claiming to be organizers for Brown's campaign were arranging to reimburse membership fees in cash to those who agreed to join the party using the Brown campaign’s web portal..“As described to us, the individual would join the party using his or her own credit card, and would be reimbursed by the organizer using funds supplied by the organizer,” Uppal said..Uppal added Arpan Khanna, Ontario co-chair of the Poilievre campaign, was approached by members of the South Asian community “who reported being offered reimbursement of membership fees and additional financial inducements” in return for joining the party. .“If you conclude, as we believe you should, that the Brown campaign has sanctioned this practice, we encourage the Party to take strong steps directed at Brown as a candidate," Uppal said..The Conservative party confirmed it is investigating the complaint, but said it “will not have anything more to say” until the investigation is concluded. The sanctions laid out by LEOC’s rules and procedures for the leadership say candidates violating the rules of the leadership race can be subject to a fine, a warning, or even disqualification from the race..A spokesperson for the Brown campaign, Chisolm Pothier, said the claims were “manufactured by the Poilievre campaign” and have no merit. The claims Poilievre's campaign made about Brown’s campaign have yet to be proven..“There is no way this can legitimately be linked to the Brown campaign given the evidence provided,” Pothier wrote in an email to National Post. “It seems like a set up to give the Poilievre campaign an issue. We have seen strange, over-the-top behaviour from the Poilievre campaign demonstrating a distinct lack of confidence for a supposed front runner recently, so this is not shocking.”.This news comes just days after Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis accused Poilievre's campaign of using a "very misleading" email to sell second memberships to supporters right before the deadline. Her campaign claimed an email titled "Membership status: incomplete" was sent out the day before membership cut-off, making supporters panic and purchase more. .“We were inundated, like absolutely inundated, with calls, emails, messages from people who were panicking because they were getting this very official note saying that they couldn’t vote,” said Lewis' Campaign Manager Steve Outhouse..Last month, Michelle Rempel Garner, national campaign co-chair for Brown, also Tweeted a screen grab of a racist email sent to the Brown campaign from a party member who was supporting Poilievre in the race.
