SHE SAID/SHE SAID CONTROVERSY IN SIMARD PC CAMPAIGN

The provincial election is about two weeks away and now controversy has struck at the campaign of Progressive Conservative candidate Amanda Simard.

Rachel Theriault sent out an email to all media May 18 stating that she had resigned as a member of the Simard campaign team.

Theriault identified herself as the secretary for the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell PC executive and the campaign’s technology manager and stated that she could no longer continue in either position “due to a number of ethical and moral conflicts” which she cannot accept or resolve for herself concerning both the local campaign itself and the party’s current leader, Doug Ford. Theriault stated she will now support Liberal candidate Pierre Leroux.

“The rationale for my decision is multifaceted, including Doug Ford’s antiquated policy to deny media and debate requests,” stated Theriault, “the inequality between continued dirty politics committed by the personal concerns and loss of faith in our disgust in the coup that was done to Patrick Brown by members of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. Unfortunately, these are issues I cannot look beyond any longer.”

A request for comment from media resulted in an email from Simard stating that Theriault was not a member of her campaign team.

“There were some initial discussions about having her on the team but we later decided she would not have been a good fit due to her behaviour,” stated the Simard last month to ensure she had no access to any party data. To be clear, Rachel has never actually worked on this campaign team.”

“Upon reading that (statement), I was insulted,” said Theriault during a May 22 phone interview. “I had been a member of Simard’s team before she received the (candidate) nomination. I had access to the Progressive Conservative database for that purpose, so I do not understand how I could not have been a member of her team.”

Theriault is now a member of the Pierre Leroux Liberal campaign team, involved in strategic planning and priorities and part of the “war room” group preparing for the June 7 election day gathering.

“The rationale for my decision is multifaceted, including Doug Ford’s antiquated policy to deny media and debate requests...”

—archives Les élections provinciales ont lieu dans deux semaines environ et une controverse a maintenant frappé la campagne de la candidate progressisteconservatrice Amanda Simard avec la démission de Rachel Theriault, un ex-membre de l’équipe Simard, à cause de...