The Conservative Party has flagged and removed 1,351 memberships bought through two IP addresses, after leadership candidate Kevin O鈥橪eary accused an unidentified rival campaign of signing up fake members.
The party said the memberships were bought anonymously through the party鈥檚 main website and not tied to any specific campaign.
鈥淭he memberships purchased in contradiction to the published rules have been removed from our membership list, and are no longer eligible to vote,鈥� the party said in a statement.
Party memberships cost $15, can only be purchased using a credit card or by cheque, and must be bought by an individual 鈥渙ut of their own personal funds.鈥�
O'Leary's campaign had alleged many of the bad memberships were bought using prepaid credit cards. The party said it examined each of the 1,233 memberships bought over the last six months using prepaid credit cards and found roughly half of them came from the two IP addresses.
鈥淲e are pleased with the Party for taking our concerns seriously and applaud them for their speed in addressing this issue,鈥� O鈥橪eary said in a statement late Friday. 鈥淲e are concerned that there will be many more fake memberships submitted at the end of the month when the membership list is finalized.鈥�
He added that there are 鈥渃learly forces at work who are trying to influence the outcome. We owe it to the membership to ensure the integrity of the system. The practice of using untraceable, prepaid credit cards must be banned by the Party going forward, and we will remain vigilant in exposing any and all cases where fake memberships have been purchased by sketchy groups trying to buy the Leadership.鈥�
O鈥橪eary did not name any specific campaign when he first raised his allegations. But Maxime Bernier fired back, calling him a 鈥渓oser鈥� who had to sling mud rather than win on his policies.
"He knows my campaign has raised more money, signed up more members, has more supporters and more volunteers. He's a bad candidate. Instead of trying to win people over by putting out a platform, he's throwing mud to try to save his campaign," Bernier said.
Brad Trost, meanwhile, called O鈥橪eary鈥檚 allegations a 鈥減ublicity stunt,鈥� while Kellie Leitch told O鈥橪eary to 鈥減ut up or shut up.鈥�
Lisa Raitt, however, joined O鈥橪eary鈥檚 call for an investigation.
When I entered this Leadership Race I pledged to put integrity before politics even if it's politically the more difficult thing to do. 1/3
鈥� Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv)
It's my duty as a Leadership candidate to shed light on the fact that backroom organizers may be vote-rigging in this election. 2/3
鈥� Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv)
My team has raised this issue directly with Conservative Party officials and I've been told the Party has launched an investigation. 3/3
鈥� Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv)
Yesterday I informed the Party about the very concerning vote rigging scheme my Campaign has uncovered.
鈥� Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv)
This is the kind of unscrupulous activity that turns people off politics. This type of deceit is extremely damaging to the Party.
鈥� Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv)
I applaud the Conservative Party for launching an investigation, but that is not enough.
鈥� Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv)
To cast aspersions on the other candidates in this race without a shred of evidence says everything we need to know about
鈥� Kellie Leitch (@KellieLeitch)
. is the only candidate in the race who's been fined by the party. So it's really something that now he's pointing fingers 1/2
鈥� Kellie Leitch (@KellieLeitch)
..without any evidence. You need to put up or shut up Kevin. 2/2
鈥� Kellie Leitch (@KellieLeitch)
