Canadian Conservative Party (CPC) leader Erin O’Toole wants to remove social conservative MP Derek Sloan from the party after a far-left publication revealed the latter had received a small donation from a white supremacist — despite the payment having been processed by the party centrally.
Mr O’Toole announced on Monday evening that he would be seeking to remove Mr Sloan from the CPC caucus and said that Sloan, a noted social conservative who ran for party leader last year, would never be able to run for the party in the future.
“Racism has no place in the Conservative Party of Canada,” O’Toole said and claimed that Mr Sloan had not done due diligence when accepting a $131 donation from a white supremacist named Paul Fromm last year.
“Derek Sloan’s acceptance of a donation from a well-known white supremacist is far worse than a gross error of judgment or failure of due diligence,” O’Toole said.
The news of the donation was initially reported by the far-left outlet PressProgress, according to a report from Canadian broadcaster CBC.
Sloan responded to the allegations, stating that his leadership campaign had raised $1.3 million from more than 13,000 separate donors and added that Mr Fromm had used the name Frederick P. Fromm.
Sloan added that the CPC itself processed the donation and took a ten per cent cut of the $131, and questioned whether that money had been refunded, saying he had refunded the cash payment as soon as he had been made aware of it.
“Upon learning about what happened, I immediately contacted the Executive Director of the Conservative Party, Janet Dorey, and requested this donation be returned,” he said.
Sloan has also claimed that Fromm was accepted as a member of the CPC itself and was able to vote during last year’s leadership race. CPC leader O’Toole has declined to comment on Sloan’s allegations.
Mr Fromm, meanwhile, received cash from the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which paid money to his groups, the Canadian Association for Free Expression and Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform, in the form of coronavirus wage subsidies.
The proposal to sack Derek Sloan comes as Mr O’Toole has made attempts to rebrand himself away from comparisons to outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump in the Canadian media and has stated there is no place for the “far-right” in the Canadian Tories.
“My singular focus is to get Canada’s economy back on track as quickly as possible to create jobs and secure a strong future for all Canadians. There is no place for the far right in our party,” he said.
The statement followed a bizarre incident involving Canada’s Rebel Media, which conducted a written interview with Mr O’Toole prior to the New Year.
Members of O’Toole’s staff denied an interview had taken place despite emails showing answers to the interview questions could be attributed to Mr O’Toole himself.
In order for Mr Sloan to be removed from the CPC caucus under federal rules, at least 20 per cent of the party MPs, 24 of the current 121, must propose the removal in writing and majority of MPs must approve of the expulsion in a secret ballot.
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