Campaign director Patrick Brown has left to help Michelle Rempel Garner with her possible candidacy to lead the United Conservative Party in Alberta.
Brown’s conservative leadership campaign says Sean Schnell has stepped down to follow Rempel Garner, who last week announced he would step down as Brown’s national co-chair.
Rempel Garner is considering running to replace Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney in his job as provincial party leader, following his decision to resign after narrowly surviving a leadership overhaul last month.
Schnell had worked for Rempel Garner’s office before he began any leadership race.
Brown spokesman Chisholm Pothier said Schnell stayed a few days after deciding to go with Rempel Garner so he could help the team during the transition.
Pothier says Fred DeLorey, who served as the party’s national campaign director for the 2021 federal election, continues on the team as chief executive.
Over the past month, Brown has also lost the support of two Conservative MPs, Kyle Seeback and Dan Muys of Ontario, to his main rival in the leadership, Ottawa Area MP Pierre Poilievre.
Brown’s campaign has rejected his decisions, saying he only has two votes from the more than 150,000 new members he says he signed up for.
Poilievre has said he has sold about 312,000 members, a record number, and has asked the party to validate those figures, which he has refused to do.
With the party looking to have a voting base of more than 600,000 members, it is working to get a national list of its names in the campaigns by July 4 at the latest.
The winner of the Conservative leadership race will be announced in Ottawa on September 10th.