Conservatives confident leadership vote won’t be delayed despite membership surge
Global News
Insiders say the party is six to eight weeks behind confirming memberships, and are worried about the party's ability to get ballots to the voters in time.
Conservative leadership chair Ian Brodie says he doesn’t see any scenario in which the race could be delayed, even as party faithful fret over the long wait to certify memberships.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Brodie said candidates signed up “many, many new members” before last Friday’s deadline and party staff are working to get voter lists to the campaigns.
Officially the party has been silent on the number of memberships candidates have wrangled into the tent for this leadership race, but party insiders suggest it could be as many as 600,000 — a party record.
Former Milton MP Lisa Raitt says the party is six to eight weeks behind confirming all those memberships, and she worries about the party’s ability to get ballots to the voters in time.
“They can’t process them, they can’t send out ballots, they can’t count ballots. I mean, I don’t know where this is going,” Raitt said, speaking on the Curse of Politics podcast Tuesday.
“I am more worried about how this process is going to unroll than I am anything else.”
Brodie says he expects the party will meet all the deadlines set out in the leadership election rules.
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