Conservative Party leader hopeful, Grant Abraham, said there is a “strong uncooperative spirit that's functioning within the Conservative Party of Canada,” after several errors prevented him from qualifying for the leadership race..“The fact that the Conservative Party of Canada indicated to me that they lost, misplaced or misallocated $52,000 of donor funds, and that appeared to be the reason that my campaign was being blocked, is highly concerning to me,” said the lawyer and vice-president of the Abbotsford Conservative Electoral District Association..A total of six candidates met the criteria for the leadership race, which include raising $300,000 in registration fees and a compliance deposit, as well as signatures from 500 party members, before the April 29 deadline..During a press conference held in Calgary on Monday, Abraham said he received a communication from the Conservative Party on May 1 indicating he failed to raise the required fees to qualify..Abraham requested a meeting with the party, and on May 4 he was advised that his campaign had only raised a total of $248,064, well short of the $300,000 required. But Abraham claims his campaign did raise the required funds..“We had the primary source documents from our paperwork raised from individual donors, as well as, interestingly, the general ledger that had been produced by the Conservative Party of Canada at 40 seconds past 5 p.m. on April 29,” he said..When Abraham’s campaign deconstructed the financial reports given to them by the party, they found several financial transactions that had been missed in the reporting..Abraham wrote to the party on May 7 requesting his campaign be allowed to qualify. He said rule 3.4.6, of the party's rules and procedures for the 2022 leadership race would allow discretion to be advised in the event that the candidate had raised the required money before the deadline. But Abraham was told that he was misinterpreting the rule.."At that point, the campaign was over $300,000. There should be a calculation properly for amounts that are ineligible, and there should be the opportunity to have discretion applied to this campaign,” he said..Abraham also said that a few hours before his press conference, he received a letter from the party claiming that only 466 of his nomination signatures were legitimate out of the 598 he submitted..“I find it curious and interesting that now this issue has been raised in relation to my campaign not being able to proceed,” he said. “These are ridiculous games for a candidate who's attempting to engage in the democratic process in this country to have to struggle through these rules.”.Abraham said he would like to review the errors that led to his disqualification and find out exactly what happened. He was particularly frustrated that the Conservative Party waited until May 4 to disclose the amount of money they had received, saying there was an "agenda" to delay the discussion..“The handling of this requires a deeper look. It requires the spirit of democracy to burn again within the Conservative Party. And I hope that there's a spirit that sees the truth.”
Conservative Party leader hopeful, Grant Abraham, said there is a “strong uncooperative spirit that's functioning within the Conservative Party of Canada,” after several errors prevented him from qualifying for the leadership race..“The fact that the Conservative Party of Canada indicated to me that they lost, misplaced or misallocated $52,000 of donor funds, and that appeared to be the reason that my campaign was being blocked, is highly concerning to me,” said the lawyer and vice-president of the Abbotsford Conservative Electoral District Association..A total of six candidates met the criteria for the leadership race, which include raising $300,000 in registration fees and a compliance deposit, as well as signatures from 500 party members, before the April 29 deadline..During a press conference held in Calgary on Monday, Abraham said he received a communication from the Conservative Party on May 1 indicating he failed to raise the required fees to qualify..Abraham requested a meeting with the party, and on May 4 he was advised that his campaign had only raised a total of $248,064, well short of the $300,000 required. But Abraham claims his campaign did raise the required funds..“We had the primary source documents from our paperwork raised from individual donors, as well as, interestingly, the general ledger that had been produced by the Conservative Party of Canada at 40 seconds past 5 p.m. on April 29,” he said..When Abraham’s campaign deconstructed the financial reports given to them by the party, they found several financial transactions that had been missed in the reporting..Abraham wrote to the party on May 7 requesting his campaign be allowed to qualify. He said rule 3.4.6, of the party's rules and procedures for the 2022 leadership race would allow discretion to be advised in the event that the candidate had raised the required money before the deadline. But Abraham was told that he was misinterpreting the rule.."At that point, the campaign was over $300,000. There should be a calculation properly for amounts that are ineligible, and there should be the opportunity to have discretion applied to this campaign,” he said..Abraham also said that a few hours before his press conference, he received a letter from the party claiming that only 466 of his nomination signatures were legitimate out of the 598 he submitted..“I find it curious and interesting that now this issue has been raised in relation to my campaign not being able to proceed,” he said. “These are ridiculous games for a candidate who's attempting to engage in the democratic process in this country to have to struggle through these rules.”.Abraham said he would like to review the errors that led to his disqualification and find out exactly what happened. He was particularly frustrated that the Conservative Party waited until May 4 to disclose the amount of money they had received, saying there was an "agenda" to delay the discussion..“The handling of this requires a deeper look. It requires the spirit of democracy to burn again within the Conservative Party. And I hope that there's a spirit that sees the truth.”
