Patrick Brown requests party probe 'misleading' membership email from Poilievre

Photo: The Canadian Press

Conservative leadership hopeful Patrick Brown takes part in the Conservative Party of Canada French-language leadership debate in Laval, Que., Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Brown's leadership campaign is the latest to raise concerns about what it calls "misleading" emails sent to party members by his main rival. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Patrick Brown's leadership campaign is the latest to raise concerns about what it calls "misleading" emails sent to party members by his main rival.

Brown's national campaign co-chair John Reynolds sent a letter today to the party's leadership election organizing committee requesting it investigate emails sent by Pierre Poilievre's campaign ahead of last month's deadline to sell $15 memberships to supporters.

To vote for the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, the party had said supporters needed to be signed up as members no later than June 3.

Poilievre's campaign has said it alone sold nearly 312,000 memberships, including some 119,000 in Ontario.

But Reynolds' letter alleges Brown's campaign received a "number of complaints" from members who said they purchased new memberships after receiving what appeared to be an "official-looking warning" from Poilievre's team that their membership status was incomplete.

The email specifies it is from Poilievre’s campaign.