Conservative nomination battle in open St. Thomas-area riding heats up

The race for the Conservative nomination in a long time federal Tory seat in the London area is heating up as a possible vote to select the candidate nearby.

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Tony Brooks – one of three people who publicly declared their intention to seek the nomination in Elgin-Middlesex-London – said he was disqualified because of a technicality over his party membership.

Brooks’s departure from the race fired up Andrew Lawton, who also is seeking the nomination. Lawton accuses a “backroom cabal” of trying to secure the nomination for Anthony Shields, a third person seeking the nomination.

Brooks, a Central Elgin resident, said he was disqualified due to an application filing deadline technicality.

Candidates are required to hold party membership for six months before they’re eligible to run as a candidate. Although Brooks applied to receive the application to run as a candidate before six months had elapsed of renewing his membership, he attests he didn’t file the lengthy document until six months after the membership’s renewal.

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MP Karen Vecchio, a Conservative who has represented the riding since 2015, said the term “filed” has been misconstrued.

“To me, the definition of ‘filing’ is not access to a portal, it’s when somebody actually submits an application,” Vecchio said. “I think that they will need to figure out what the word filing really means, because they’re using it in a very different context of what the definition is.”

Lawton called Brooks’s disqualification “shameful and undemocratic” in a statement.

“All candidates should be given the opportunity to run,” Lawton said. “It’s clear the local nomination committee, which is stacked with old guard gatekeepers, is trying to tilt this contest for their preferred candidate.”

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The riding, which will be redrawn and renamed Elgin-St. Thomas-London South in the next Parliament, will open after Vecchio steps down ahead of the next election.

In a statement to The Free Press, Conservative riding association vice-president Bradley Clift dismissed Lawton’s assertion that the local committee was responsible for disqualifying Brooks.

Clift said the local association doesn’t “have the ability to disqualify nominees,” and its role is to “advise the national committee.”

“Andrew’s comments aren’t representative of how the process works,” Clift said. “The national candidate selection committee has the final say as to who is allowed to contest the riding.”

A national spokesperson for the Conservative party could not be reached Tuesday.

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A vote among the party’s membership to select the nominee would happen before Nov. 25, a deadline based on the federal Conservatives closing notice, Clift said last week.

Lawton – a broadcaster, author and journalist – is married to London Free Press reporter Jennifer Bieman. He ran unsuccessfully for Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives in London West in the 2018 election.

Shields – who grew up in Elgin County and returned there after a career in the military – has an interview scheduled with local Conservative officials Wednesday in the next step of the candidate process, Clift said.

“The party still could choose not to invite him to contest the riding,” Clift said.

Shields didn’t reply to an email sent to his website.

Ironically, Brooks said he thought it was Lawton who was regarded as the preferential candidate by Conservative insiders in Ottawa who “parachuted” him into the riding.

“Conservative staffers in Ottawa know that they want to give it to him,” Brooks said.

Brooks said he is supporting Shields.

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