O'Toole seeks to boot Ontario MP Derek Sloan from Conservative caucus

Photo: The Canadian Press

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole holds a press conference on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, on Dec. 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says he wants Ontario MP Derek Sloan kicked out of the party caucus over a donation to his leadership campaign from a white supremacist.

O'Toole says his former leadership rival's accepting the contribution is "far worse than a gross error of judgment or failure of due diligence."

It's up to Conservative MPs whether to eject Sloan from their number, but O'Toole says he'll use his power as party leader to keep the first-term Hastings—Lennox and Addington MP from running again as a Tory in the next election.

Sloan says his leadership team processed the $131 donation from Paul Fromm without recognizing his name amid thousands of other donors.

Fromm has been a fixture in right-wing politics for decades, including participating in events with the neo-Nazi Heritage Front.

Sloan says when he learned about the donation this afternoon, he contacted the Conservative party and asked that Fromm's money be returned.

Fromm, an Ontario resident, has attended several anti-lockdown rallies in Kelowna in recent months.