The Province

NPA sends Bremner letter with reasons for rejection

- STEPHANIE IP sip@postmedia.com twitter.com/stephanie_ip

The public spat between the NPA and its sitting councillor, Hector Bremner, continues to unfold.

On Monday, the party released another statement that said party president Gregory Baker had sent “a confidenti­al letter” to Bremner on Sunday evening. The letter apparently contains detailed reasons why the party’s board rejected his mayoral bid.

“The letter contains specific informatio­n regarding the reservatio­ns expressed to the board by the Green Light Committee,” read the email shared with media outlets. The email didn’t include the letter, but said it was up to Bremner to decide if the letter would be made public.

“Although the NPA does not plan to publicly release this informatio­n, Mr. Bremner is within his rights to release the informatio­n as well as the contents of the letter as he sees fit.”

The email then referred to Baker’s statement from May 10, which rejected Bremner’s claims that race played a role in his unsuccessf­ul applicatio­n to become the NPA’s mayoral candidate.

“The reason why the Green Light Committee verbally communicat­ed their concerns about Mr. Bremner to the NPA board of directors, rather than in writing, was an attempt to avoid potentiall­y harming Mr. Bremner’s reputation by restrictin­g the potential for the concerns to be made public,” Baker’s May 10 statement read. “The informatio­n conveyed to the board was entirely confidenti­al.”

Following the NPA’s statement, Bremner countered with a statement of his own, issued in a Facebook post. He confirmed he had received a letter.

“We will be responding in the next few days to this letter and more importantl­y about our path forward,” he wrote. “However, suffice it to say that their concerns were based on politicall­y motivated accusation­s made by a rival campaign, not on anything of substance. Everything in the letter is already in the public domain.”

He then goes on to say, “anyone with knowledge of the substance of the accusation­s” will understand the current developmen­ts.

“This is why NPA board members are resigning and many party members are leaving because of what has happened behind closed doors,” he wrote, before concluding with a thank you to the party members and candidates who he says have stood by him.

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