The B.C. Conservative Party is officially acknowledging that it uncovered evidence of an attempt to sign up fake members to vote in the leadership review of John Rustad.
"During an internal audit of new memberships, the party identified manufactured memberships and proceed[ed] to cancel all of them," a party spokesperson told Black Press Media in a written statement.
The Conservative leadership review involves a riding-by-riding vote to ask party members if they have faith in Rustad as leader. If fewer than half its members vote in support, a leadership election is triggered. These votes began in the summer and are set to conclude on Saturday (Sept. 20) in Osoyoos.
Results could be available as soon as Monday, but the party needs to get the votes to a law firm in Vancouver for counting, so the timing is still uncertain at this point.
The party believes that 90 per cent of the fake members were signed up in the four Kelowna ridings, which are set to vote on Thursday, Sept 18.
The party would not release more information about the internal investigation.
"For liability and privacy reasons, the party cannot share information on any individuals possibly involved," the statement from the party spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also pointed out that issues in leadership races are "unfortunately common," and that the party is "working diligently" to improve security and ensure all individuals voting in the review are members in good standing.
B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko said she received a communication from the party executive on Tuesday, but would not divulge exactly what it said except that it was regarding concerns over memberships.
"Reading it leaves me concerned," she said. "But out of respect for my fellow MLAs and also to have an opportunity for a broader discussion with people that I work with, I'm going to reserve any further comment until after I have that discussion with them."
On Monday (Sept. 15), B.C. Conservative MLA Peter Milobar said he thought the process for the leadership review is "clunky," and called the allegations "troubling."
"Certainly I have some concerns in terms of making sure that we are, as a B.C. conservative caucus, always functioning at the highest level of integrity, and always making sure that the public has their faith in us," he said.
Premier David Eby commented on the brewing controversy on Tuesday morning, seeming to possess some additional information about the allegations.
"What we are seeing from Conservatives is the leader of that party alleged to be involved in a large-scale fraud, buying multiple memberships, using virtual private networks software, to create the impression they're located in Iran," Eby said. "Just unbelievable allegations coming out."
Black Press Media caught up with Rustad in Vernon on Wednesday evening. He declined to comment on the fake memberships, saying he plans to discuss the matter at a press conference he will hold in Victoria once the review results are out, likely on Monday.
