Hastings, Lennox and Addington MP Derek Sloan is saying the Conservative Party had failed to hold themselves to the same standard as they held him.
The comments come as Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said he will invoke the Reform Act to boot Sloan from the party after accepting a $131 donation from White Supremacist Paul Fromm. The allegations were revealed in a PressProgress article released on January 18th, when the publication asked O’Toole for comment. In a statement, O’Toole’s Office called Sloan’s actions a gross error of judgement and a failure of due diligence and plans to bar Sloan from running as a candidate in the party. He also said that he will not tolerate racism in the Conservative Party of Canada.
However, Sloan has hit back against the accusations. The MP claims the donation was made under a different name, and only learned about the donation when the news broke on the 18th. He says that his campaign was unaware of this donation as well, as they did not closely scrutinize the donor names. However, he says the party has to check each donor to ensure they have not exceeded the maximum limit, and the CPC did not catch the donation from Fromm. Sloan also claims that the Conservative Party had accepted Fromm’s application to become a member of the Party and cast a vote in the recent leadership race. He also says that the party keeps 10% of every donation, and presumes the party kept that 10%. He states that none of the scrutineers present at the election raised objections to Fromm’s ballot. Sloan has said he has asked the CPC Executive Director to refund the donation and claims he has yet to hear from O’Toole or his team about an investigation into the matter.
Moose FM has reached out to both O’Toole and Sloan to expand on their statements. They as of yet have not returned our request for comment.