Strong words coming from the Ontario Liberal Party amid accusations of ballot box stuffing and fixing nomination meetings.

In a release by the Liberals, they say PC Party President Rick Dykstra’s admitted that “Conservative nominations don’t actually matter, with PC Leader Patrick Brown hand-picking his party’s nominees and bypassing local hard-working nomination candidates” in an affidavit.

They cite a CBC News article from July 10th, where Dykstra says the nomination meeting “is not determinative of who will ultimately be listed on the ballot as a PC party candidate in the general election.”

“There is no requirement in the Election Act, the Constitution or the rules that the party leader must endorse, or can only endorse, the nomination contestant who is successful at the nomination meeting,” Dykstra is quoted.

That same report claims the PCs used “demographic analysis” rather than votes to deny the nomination in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas to Vikram Singh.

The article states Brown claimed Singh to be “unreliable.”

“Selling Conservative party memberships, holding a nomination and taking money from people who think that they have a vote, and then endorsing the party leader’s choice instead is not the definition of transparency, fairness or democracy,” the Liberals responded, “It’s just the opposite.”

The release goes on to say Brown “repeatedly expressed his trust in Rick Dykstra.”

But the recent controversies with nominations, the Liberals say it’s been the exact opposite.

With around 45 more nominations to go before the 2018 general election, including in Timmins-James Bay, the Liberals question the point of the process.

“Based on the PC President Rick Dykstra’s revelations, the entire PC nomination process is a scam,” they say.

Steve Kidd, who is the Timmins-James Bay PC Riding Association President, says sending this release seems to be a “weak attempt at spamming media in all Ontario ridings from the Toronto Liberal headquarters.”

“It is clearly a desperate attempt at distraction for a Government that is trying to divert from a long history of scandal and mismanagement that has made Ontarians ‘energy poor,’ and with growing contempt for the Wynne Government,” Kidd tells Rogers Media.

“Perhaps if the authors of the letter were to actually visit Northern Ontario, they would realize the incredible damage they have done to families attempting to make ends meet, and the incredible challenges that our resource-based businesses are facing due to astronomical electricity rates.”

Kidd, however, adds he’s pleased the Liberals looked at the PC Party constitution and realized “all candidates come under great scrutiny.”

“We certainly wouldn’t want to be endorsing a criminal as a candidate, so due diligence must apply and is rightly justified,” he continued, “Perhaps the Liberals should run similar checks.”

Filed under: Local News