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Poilievre’s team is said to have sold nearly 312,000 CPC memberships, but its opponents are suspicious of the numbers.
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June 11, 2022 • 14 hours ago • 4 minutes reading • 411 comments Pierre Poaliver participates in the French-language debate on the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in Laval, Quebec. His team says they sold 320,000 party memberships to make him a leader in the CCP’s leadership race. CANADIAN PRESS / Ryan Remiorz Photo by Ryan Remiorz / Canadian Press
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OTTAWA – Is the victory of Pierre Poalever as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada inevitable? It seems that more and more may be the case, although opponents are questioning his membership numbers.
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Poilievre Senior Adviser Jenny Byrne raised a lot of eyebrows when she revealed that the campaign had sold nearly 312,000 memberships on the Poilievre website, a number that, to be exact, would account for about half of the “well over 600,000” total membership sold to 3 June end date.
“Well, we wanted to be honest about our membership sales. We are very proud and happy with them. So we thought, why not release the numbers and call on other campaigns to release the numbers? “Byrne said in a recent interview with the National Post.
Mark-Andre Leclerc, who was part of Andrew Scheer’s winning campaign in 2017, said he had never seen a campaign go so far as to reveal the numbers in so much detail, and that could be a good sign that the Poilievre feels quite confident in their numbers.
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He also said it was an interesting strategy to challenge the party to make public the number of memberships sold through Poilievre’s website and to encourage all campaigns to follow suit. Party officials have confirmed they will not release the figures.
“This proves that you are ready to put your head in the way,” said Leclerc, who now works as director of Maple Leaf Strategies in Ottawa and political commentator in Quebec.
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So far, Patrick Brown’s team has said it has sold more than 150,000 memberships and Jean Charest’s team has sold “tens of thousands”, although it declined to give further details. Other campaigns have so far refused to provide guidance on sold memberships.
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Questions have been raised about the credibility of the members sold, given that the party already had less than 200,000 members before the race even began.
Chris Rugie, Charest’s national campaign manager, told the National Post that it was “mathematically impossible” to reach approximately 600,000 members, summing up all requests, plus existing memberships and those the party sold through its website.
the hose numbers just don’t hold up
“Those numbers just don’t hold up,” added Chisholm Pottier, Brown’s communications communications director.
Rugie added that it is easy to inflate numbers, “because there is absolutely no way to check and there is no way to confirm” through the party. He also indirectly criticized Poaliever’s team, saying that “exaggerations themselves are political tactics” – even “intimidation tactics”.
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Steve Outhouse, campaign manager for Leslin Lewis, said Poliever’s campaign sent a “very misleading” email the day before the membership was suspended, entitled “Membership Status: Incomplete”, prompting supporters to buy a second membership hours before the deadline.
“We were flooded, as if flooded with calls, emails, messages from people who were panicking because they received this official note that they could not vote,” Outhouse said.
The email that the National Post looked at did indicate that it came from the Poilievre campaign and was signed by the Poilievre Membership Verification.
The Conservative Party is now reviewing the lists of members to make sure there are no mistakes or duplicates. Earlier this week, campaigns were told to expect a preliminary list in early July, although “every effort is being made” to provide lists earlier, according to the party.
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Once the full lists of members are provided for each campaign, the competition will officially enter the “persuasion” phase, which consists of trying to influence members before the voting period.
The teams of Charest, Brown and Lewis told the National Post that they believe they have a path to victory, although Poilievre’s estimated numbers are far ahead of theirs.
Charest’s team, for example, believes that this path to victory lies in a “point strategy”.
“We knew, despite everything, that it would be a close race and it would be a battle. That’s why we have drawn up a strategy aimed at driving, where it would be easier to get a larger share of points during the sales period, “Rugie explained.
He acknowledged that it was difficult to draw up a “final strategy” as long as the team did not have preliminary lists. “Whether a ride has 200 or 5,000 members or not is a really important factor in making strategic decisions,” Rugie said.
Brown’s team said it would continue to connect with cultural communities that have felt alienated from the party in the past, while Lewis’ team still has strong support from social conservatives.
A source in Poilievre’s campaign said they felt “very, very good about things”, but said the decisive step would be to cast the votes in late July and August in time for the September deadline.
“We don’t take anything for granted.”
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