Former riding president alleges meddling in Conservative GTA nomination

A former Conservative is accusing party brass of blocking him from running to be nominated as a candidate in the next election.

Anthony Yacub, 24, said he believes the party made him ineligible for the nomination in order to run a "star" candidate in his riding, currently held by Liberal MP Jennifer O'Connell.

"It's a real slap in the face to grassroots people," he told CBC News. "What does it say to them? It basically says, 'We don't really care what you think.'"

Yacub was the Conservative riding president in the greater Toronto area riding of Pickering-Uxbridge until he decided to seek the federal nomination for the riding last September. (Due to changes in electoral boundary maps, the riding will be called Pickering-Brooklin in the next election.)

Yacub said he initially felt supported by the party when he told them he was planning on seeking the nomination. Three months later, he said, he started getting "weird vibes" from a regional party organizer and in February, he was told he was ineligible to seek the nomination.

This is at least the fourth time Conservative Party brass have been accused of interfering in local nomination races in the run-up to the next election — allegations the party has denied.

"I've never seen a party that's going this hard against their own people," Yacub said.

His claim hinges on an interpretation of a rule in the party's electoral district association (EDA) constitution.

In a statement, Conservative Party spokesperson Sarah Fischer says Yacub was ineligible to run because of a neutrality agreement he signed when he was on his riding's nomination committee in 2023. According to the party's rules, the riding president is automatically on the nomination committee if they are "willing and able to participate."

The signed agreement, which Fischer shared with CBC News, says that committee members must agree to "maintain neutrality with respect to the nomination process." The rule is meant to ensure fairness in the nomination process.

But Yacub said he received assurances from two party officials — one in writing, which he shared with CBC News — that if he resigned from the executive and the nomination committee, he would be free to run for the nomination himself.

He said the rule was reinterpreted to prohibit him from seeking the nomination only after he launched his campaign.

An internal party memo obtained by CBC News was sent on February 16, 2024, five months after Yacub left his post as riding president.

It contained a "clarification" stating that anyone who served on a nomination committee since the last election would be ineligible to seek a nomination. The clarification effectively barred Yacub from running for the nomination.