Jeremy Roberts may have been acclaimed as the PC Party candidate in Ottawa West-Nepean on Wednesday night but the woman who, until recently, had the nomination isn’t done fighting.
Karma Macgregor won the contested nomination in Ottawa West-Nepean last May. Roberts and his supporters claimed ballot box stuffing and other irregularities in the nomination meeting and demanded a new contest be held. Patrick Brown, the then leader of the party ignored that request and those from several other ridings across the province when he used his power as leader to appoint Macgregor, and dozens of others, last year.
Yet when Brown was ousted as leader six weeks ago the party reopened the nomination race in Ottawa West-Nepean and in a a Toronto area riding. Roberts stepped up to seek what he thought had been stolen from him a year ago while Macgregor wondered what had happened.
The former Senate staffer had quit her job on Parliament Hill to campaign full-time and now had her nomination taken from her. According to sources Macgregor didn’t even get notified by the party that they would overturn her nomination, she heard through the media.
Now a lawyer for Macgregor is saying the party failed in its legal duty to his client. Joshua Henderson has written to the party asking for proof that Macgregor’s nomination was overturned in accordance with the rules.
Not only has my client never received official notification from the Party President or the PNC that her nomination was overturned almost one month ago, but over the last few days, she has received dozens of calls and emails from concerned members in OWN, who were not aware there was even a new nomination meeting.
Henderson writes that he and Macgregor intend to challenge the nomination of Roberts.
Please provide me with the proof that an official notice of this nomination meeting was sent out to the entire OWN membership, in accordance with the Rules.
In an email to me, Henderson writes that Macgregor has tried over the past month to raise this issue with the party.
Although Mrs. MacGregor has attempted to deal with the Party in a pleasant and reasonable manner, most of her attempts have been met with silence.
What Henderson does claim is that forces within the party have lashed out at his client to the point of police being called.
Whenever Mrs. MacGregor pushed the issue with them she, along with her friends and family, received harassing and threatening messages from anonymous sources. These threats were serious enough to force her to report the matters to the police last weekend. My client has had enough of these anonymous threats, it is time for this to stop.
When all of this started last May I called for a simple solution, hold another vote. If the party had listened to me and countless others this all could have been avoided.
Now it looks like one injustice is being met with another. That is no remedy.
You can listen to my less than successful interview with Jeremy Roberts the night before he was acclaimed here.
They’re shooting themselves in the foot. The election is theirs to win but if they can’t get their own house in order who’s going to vote for them? It will also spoil the chances of the Conservatives beating Trudeau in 2019. They need to check their egos at the door and put the party first.? Time to grow up and quit bickering.
I hope Doug Ford wins the Leadership. This has been hell for those of us who’ve tried to vote and not been able to.. (It took drastic measures for me to finally get my ballot this afternoon and vote. There are many others who still haven’t even received their verification codes.) There is something absolutely ROTTEN within the Party exec. I think Doug would go in there with a new broom and sweep the place clean — might even have it exterminated to make sure all the rats and cockroaches are gone.
I heard the interview with Jeremy Roberts and I was glad you tossed him. If he was running in my riding he would have lost my vote right then and there. As for Karma Macgregor, I don’t know her and I don’t know what happened a year ago so can’t comment on that. But it would seem to me that if the Conservatives are all about fairness then a new vote would be in order. No acclamations. Just my opinion