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.
Read more: Rempel Garner Says He’s Considering an Offer to Become a UCP Leader in Alberta
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.
The story continues under the ad
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.
Trend stories
-
Canada has 3 of the most livable cities in the world by 2022
-
Mother arrested after the body of the 3-year-old boy was decomposing in the freezer
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.
8:10 Poilievre’s claims to sell 310,000 members are not credible: Patrick Brown Poilievre’s claims to sell 310,000 members are not credible: Patrick Brown – June 12, 2022
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 story continues under the ad
The winner of the Conservative leadership race will be announced in Ottawa on September 10th.
© 2022 The Canadian Press