No, the issue is not settled and the Tories insist on losing to the even worse Liberals:
In a statement, Van Dorland’s campaign manager said the decision was very disappointing and added that the aspiring candidate was given “no reasoning” as to why he was disqualified.
“The Conservative Party maintains that they are a party of open and fair nominations, and as such, we will be appealing this decision to the Conservative Party National Council,” said his campaign manager Bas Sluijmers in an email.
“Gerrit remains optimistic that the National Council will vote to respect the grassroots and allow his candidacy.”
In a surprising move, other nomination candidates vying to run in Oxford also called on the National Council to reverse the decision and let Van Dorland run against them.
Arpan Khanna, who served as Pierre Poilievre’s Ontario campaign co-chair during the leadership race last year and has since been the party’s National Outreach Chair, wrote a letter to the NCSC to express his disappointment and call on the party to “do the right thing”.
“My strong view is that everyone should be allowed to freely and fairly contest this nomination and that local members should decide who their candidate will be,” wrote Khanna.
Rick Roth, vice-president of communications firm Global Public Affairs who is also vying for the nomination, sent out a statement saying that he has spoken to thousands of residents in past months and how much Van Dorland speaks to the community’s faith and family values.
“His removal as a candidate not only risks silencing their voices, but it sets a dangerous path of ignoring grassroots voices for a preferred parachute candidate with no connection to our community,” said Roth.
No comments:
Post a Comment