Ottawa-
Conservative leadership chairman Ian Brodie says he sees no scenario in which the race could be delayed, even when party supporters worry about the long wait to certify members.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Brodie said candidates had signed up “many, many new members” before last Friday’s deadline and that party staff are working to get voter lists into the campaigns.
Officially, the party has kept quiet about the number of affiliations the candidates have contested in the store for this leadership race, but party experts suggest it could reach 600,000, a party record.
Former Milton MP Lisa Raitt says the party is six to eight weeks behind in confirming all of these affiliations and is concerned about the party’s ability to get ballots to voters on time.
“They can’t process them, they can’t send ballots, they can’t count the ballots. I mean, I don’t know where this is going,” Raitt said, speaking on the Curse of Politics podcast on Tuesday.
“I’m more concerned about how this process will unfold than anything else.”
Brodie says he expects the party to meet all of the deadlines set in the leadership election rules.
Rules and procedures state that the party must send voter lists to the rectors before July 8, but must not provide the final list to the candidates by July 29.
Several camps have pressured the party to publish a preliminary voter list as soon as possible, which is key for candidates hoping to win over their opponents’ supporters before the September vote.
Roman Baber’s campaign issued a statement on Tuesday, suggesting that delaying the publication of the preliminary list would be a “significant detriment” to his campaign.
The only candidates who posted the number of members sold were Pierre Poilievre with over 311,000, Patrick Brown with over 150,000 and Jean Charest with “tens of thousands”.
Baber, Scott Aitchison and Leslyn Lewis have not boasted about their membership records.
Poilievre spokesman Anthony Koch says the campaign has full confidence in the party to meet its deadlines.
“We would like to see other campaigns begin to question a fair and impartial process given Pierre Poilievre’s success in selling members across Canada,” Koch said in a statement.
Leadership elections will be held on September 10th.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 8, 2022.