PC leadership hopeful wants Cambridge memberships tossed
CAMBRIDGE — Ontario PC leadership contender Tanya Granic Allen wants the party to throw out more than 2,000 memberships signed up in Cambridge by a controversial, outof-province candidate.
Granic Allen, who is running as a candidate in Cambridge, made an urgent appeal to reject
2,078 memberships signed up by Calgary dentist Tanya Khattra.
Those memberships are among almost 12,000 unprocessed paper memberships spread over nine ridings that were “discovered” at PC party headquarters and submitted before the Feb. 16 deadline, according to an appeal letter from the Granic Allen campaign.
The letter argues those questionable memberships should all be deleted — and could now help sway the outcome of the party’s leadership race.
Khattra is the so-called parachute candidate who is ineligible to seek public office in Ontario, but has refused to meet with a provincial nomination committee that would disqualify her.
Now the debate centres on hundreds of new memberships she signed up in her bid to win the local nomination. Granic Allen, who lives in Grey County, is challenging Sunny Attwal and Bert Laranjo for the Cambridge nomination, which will be decided March 24.
Granic Allen argues that Khattra’s memberships shouldn’t count, because they were signed up in support of a candidate that didn’t meet residency requirements laid out in Ontario’s Election Act.
“The individuals identified on the membership applications, if
legitimate, were seemingly deceived into joining the PCPO on a fraudulent basis,” reads a letter sent by the Granic Allen campaign to the PC party’s Chair, Rules and Appeals Board.
Her appeal was dismissed by the board on Thursday night. Granic Allen declined to comment on that decision, but her campaign’s letter suggested the fight wasn’t finished.
Granic Allen’s isn’t alone in her concern. Leadership rivals Caroline Mulroney and Doug Ford agreed those 12,000 memberships need to be scrutinized further. “We believe the party should audit those members,” said Melissa Lantsman, spokesperson for Mulroney.
The only leadership candidate who didn’t support Granic Allen’s call to reject those memberships was Christine Elliot — who is being endorsed by the Khattra campaign, which has pledged to bring their supporters with them. “The Party has determined that these are legitimate memberships that were purchased prior to the membership cut-off, and therefore they should be eligible to vote,” said Melanie Paradis, Elliott’s spokesperson. “Members should not be disenfranchised unless and until there are hard facts demonstrating ineligibility.”
Granic Allen contends Khattra’s memberships shouldn’t be accepted because they were “submitted by a potential candidate for nomination who is currently a resident of the province of Alberta, and who is thus ineligible to seek election to the Ontario legislature.” Under provincial election law, anyone running for public office must have lived in Ontario for at least six months prior to voting day. Granic Allen’s concerns about the memberships signed up by the Khattra campaign is the latest in the drama around the Alberta dentist. Last month, someone from the Khattra campaign sent a revised membership list to PC headquarters after it was revealed hundreds of the names she had submitted were being scrutinized by the party.Voting by party members for a new leader began Friday and wraps up March 8. The winner will be announced March 10.