Maddeaux suspends nomination campaign alleging misconduct

• Political pundit Sabrina Maddeaux has suspended her campaign to become a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada in the Greater Toronto Area, saying she has lost faith in the election’s integrity, while the party disputes allegations she has made about misconduct in the nomination process.

Maddeaux, who previously wrote columns for National Post, announced in January she was running for the Conservative candidacy in the riding of Aurora–oak Ridges–richmond Hill. In an interview Thursday, she said she never expected the nomination process to be easy.

“I know that any sort of political race and nomination races, in particular, can get dirty. There are attacks, there are bumps along the way, but this wasn’t that. I know that even sometimes, the finger can be pressed lightly on the scale in favour of a candidate. Again, this wasn’t that,” she said. “I couldn’t in good conscience continue.”

Maddeaux said an email containing “smear attacks” against her was sent by “Norman Mcdaniel” in the riding on April 27 and again on April 29, with an updated membership list her competitors were not supposed to be able to access.

She said the email was shared with her campaign by members she had recently sold membership cards to and who had never been part of the Conservative party, so she was confident that their names would not be on any old membership list.

Maddeaux described the email, which National Post has not seen, as “mischaracterizing” quotes from her work early on in her career, claiming she is not a real Conservative. She also said no one on her team had ever heard of anyone named “Norman Mcdaniel.” She said the party confirmed that no such local member exists.