Two Conservative MPs have left Brampton, Ontario. Mayor Patrick Brown’s team to support Pierre Poilievre, his main rival in the party’s leadership race, a move that leaves Brown with only two MPs supporting his candidacy.
Hamilton Area MP Dan Muys and MP Kyle Seeback, who represents neighbor Dufferin-Caledon in the House of Commons, announced Tuesday that they will leave Brown for Poilievre. His departures come after Poilievre’s campaign said over the weekend that he had sold an astonishing 312,000 season tickets in the race for the party’s workplace.
Conservative sources told CBC News that approximately 600,000 party members will be eligible to vote in the September leadership election.
A source in the Poilievre campaign, who spoke to CBC News on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak publicly, said the team is confident that Poilievre can win the race in the first ballot given how many members has sold so far.
The party has not confirmed any of the partner sales figures released by the campaigns.
Brown’s team said Friday that the mayor had sold more than 150,000 members. Former Quebec Prime Minister Jean Charest also said he has convinced enough key people to hire members to win the race. The party awards points to all 338 federal constituencies and candidates are awarded a total of points based on their percentage of votes in each constituency.
Deputies say Poilievre is the best option to unite the party
Despite competing claims about member sales strength, Seeback and Muys said on Tuesday that they believe the winner is already known.
In a statement on social media, Seeback said that “he believes there is a candidate … who can unite Conservatives and Canadians to become our next Prime Minister. This is Pierre Poilievre.”
Muys, a rookie MP who was first elected to the Commons last fall, said Seeback was “right.”
Muys said that while campaigning with Ontario’s progressive Conservative candidates during the recent election campaign, he witnessed “division” and suggested that the best way to heal those divisions is to “unite behind Pierre Poilievre.”
“Canada needs him and us to do it,” Muys said.
Both outings have dealt a blow to Brown. Only two seated MPs support the mayoral candidacy: Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner and MP Doug Shipley, representing Barrie, Ontario, the area Brown used to represent in the Commons.
Poilievre has 56 incumbent deputies who support his candidacy for leadership. Charest has been endorsed by 16 MPs.
Chisholm Pothier, a spokesman for Brown, told CBC News that the mayor is “very confident” he can win the race.
“We like where we are, we like our numbers, and there’s a strange lack of confidence in the Poilievre camp with its exaggerated attacks,” Pothier said, citing some of the fights on social media that have become a distinctive seal. of this career.
“This is not a game for the faint of heart. A guarantee of any and two dollars give you a cup of coffee and a vote. We just lost two votes. We will get them back somewhere else,” he said.