Former journalist drops out of Conservative nomination race, claims the process has been 'corrupted'

A former National Post journalist is bowing out of the race to carry the Conservative Party banner in a Toronto-area riding because she says she has "clear evidence of a corrupted process."

In a social media post Thursday, Sabrina Maddeaux said she's suspending her race for the party's nomination in Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill. She said she has been "the clear target of highly unethical, and potential illegal, efforts to sway the vote" because another candidate allegedly had the party's membership list before she did.

"Sadly, I no longer have faith in the election's integrity," she said.

"I call on the Conservative Party of Canada to secure our democratic nomination process, protect our values and stand up to corrupt campaigns that show disdain for both."

Maddeaux did not say which candidate allegedly had the membership list.

She suggested a mass email sent to party members in the riding disparaging her candidacy was evidence that someone unfairly had access to the names and contact details of local Conservatives in contravention of party rules.

Conservatives call claim 'completely false'

A spokesperson for the party told CBC News Maddeaux's allegations about a competitor and the membership list are "completely false."

"It's common for the party to receive complaints from nomination candidates about their competitors over suspicions of wrongdoing and the use of lists," Sarah Fischer said.

"In fact, we received a complaint about Ms. Maddeaux's campaign sending out an email to current and former members of the party when she should not have had access to a membership list."

Conservative sources who spoke to CBC News on the condition they not be named said Maddeaux sold only about 50 memberships in the nomination race — a low number that means she likely had no chance of winning the nomination.

"That's not the case," Maddeaux said in an interview when asked about the claim regarding her membership sales. "We definitely sold more than 50 memberships." She said later her campaign has sold "over 200" memberships.

Maddeaux said she's not speaking out now because she was poised to lose. She said she would have gone quietly if she lost a contest she perceived as fair.

"This is not the way I wanted things to go," she said. "It's so difficult and heartbreaking. We were actually very confident in our campaign and our chances of winning."

Asked whether she still supports party leader Pierre Poilievre, Maddeaux said she was inspired to run because of the leader's "vision for change."

"I would still love to support that and him as leader, but there still does seem to be some issues within the party apparatus," she said.

Sabrina Maddeaux on the campaign trail. (Sabrina Maddeaux/Twitter)

Maddeaux was in a tough fight for the York Region riding nomination against former MP Costas Menegakis, who held the riding from 2011 until the party's defeat in the 2015 election.

He ran again in 2019 and 2021 in neighbouring Richmond Hill and lost both times to a Liberal, something Maddeaux highlighted in a past interview as a reason to pick her instead for the nomination.

Maddeaux presented herself as a "fresh Conservative voice." Menegakis told True North earlier this year he's an "experienced hand at the wheel," while Maddeaux is a political neophyte.

The riding they both were jockeying to represent was held by a Conservative as recently as 2019, which suggests it's a winnable seat for the party, given how well the Conservatives are doing in the national polls.

Conservative MP Andrew Scheer with Costas Menegakis in Richmond Hill, Ont. on Wednesday, September 18, 2019. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

The party membership list is a crucial document disseminated to prospective party nominees. It's what candidates use to focus their campaigns on members who are actually expected to vote, which saves the campaign time and resources.

"If one campaign has this list and others don't, the nomination is effectively rigged in their favour. Every day with an official list is akin to campaigning for weeks without one. That's how significant it is," Maddeaux said.

Under the Conservative Party's rules, the membership list can only be given to nomination candidates after the "closing notice" is issued, when nominations are closed to other prospective party nominees.

But the party's member list, housed in its Constituent Information Management System (CIMS), has been widely used in election circles in recent years, when the party held three national leadership campaigns and dozens of nomination meetings for four general elections.

Maddeaux alleges a 'smear job'

Maddeaux said she has evidence to suggest that another unnamed candidate had a list — which includes personal contact details of party members — before the "closing notice" and used it to disseminate disparaging details about her to sink her chances of winning.

"A mass email was sent to an updated version of the official membership list that no candidate was allowed to have yet. No one had been greenlit. The subject: "IMPORTANT INFO: Sabrina Maddeaux," she said.

The email, written by someone supposedly named Norman McDaniel, was "a smear job," Maddeaux said.

The email cited her past writings on firearms, former prime minister Stephen Harper, lingerie and Marilyn Monroe and suggested she was out of step with Conservative values.

The email told party members the community "deserves better."

"This is a candidate who does not share our values and will embarrass us should she make it to Parliament," the email said. The party confirmed there was no Norman McDaniel in the riding, Maddeaux said.

Maddeaux said the email "purposely mischaracterized" her work and was "inflammatory."

She asked the party to investigate two weeks ago but she has been dissatisfied with their response to her concerns.

Fischer confirmed the party "received a complaint from her campaign about emails being circulated to members in the riding highlighting things Ms. Maddeaux has written and said in the past."

The Conservatives have faced at least two other allegations of party brass favouring one candidate over another in a nomination race.

Last year in Oxford, a riding in southwestern Ontario, Arpan Khanna got the nod over the daughter of the outgoing MP.

That prompted accusations that Khanna, who previously ran in Brampton, Ont. and served as the co-chair of Poilievre's leadership campaign, was a parachute candidate who unfairly displaced a local leader and an anti-abortion campaigner.

The party has insisted the race was fair and Khanna easily won the most votes in the nomination.

Khanna went on to win a federal byelection, but by a closer margin than some had expected in the solid Conservative riding.

Conservative MP Arpan Khanna is introduced by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, right, in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Earlier this year, local Conservatives also raised concerns about the party supposedly favouring former Ontario PC MPP Parm Gill to run in a riding in Milton, Ont., according to a report in The Hill Times.

Squabbles over a political party supposedly favouring one candidate over another are not unusual. The Liberals have faced similar claims in the past.

In 2015, Ottawa lawyer David Berstchi sued three senior Liberal campaign staff after his approval to carry the Liberal banner was revoked.

After Bertschi was knocked out of the race, former Canadian Forces general Andrew Leslie was acclaimed as the candidate in Ottawa-Orleans.