Conservative caucus votes to expel Sloan, former contender for party leadership

A majority of Conservatives on Wednesday voted in favour of removing embattled MP Derek Sloan from their caucus during a virtual meeting, in an apparent rebuke of his leadership campaign’s acceptance of a donation from an avowed white nationalist. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's (Durham, Ont.) bid to remove the Ontario MP for Hastings-Lennox and Addington passed with most caucus members siding with his assessment that Mr. Sloan no longer has a place in the party. “The Conservative caucus voted to remove Derek Sloan not because of one specific event, but because of a pattern of destructive behaviour involving multiple incidents and disrespect towards the Conservative team for over a year," Mr. O'Toole said in a statement following the meeting. “I did not vote to remove Derek Sloan from our caucus because he is a social conservative. We have Members of Parliament of deep compassion and unmatched character, who like many Canadians, draw strength from their faith." In an email to his supporters acknowledging his expulsion, Mr. Sloan said he "will now sit as an Independent MP in the House of Commons." Though he assailed Mr. O'Toole and his colleagues for their "callous and misguided" actions, he urged his supporters to remain in the party and to mobilize ahead of the Conservatives' upcoming policy convention in March. "Throughout the next few weeks, there will be 'virtual delegation meetings' where you will be able to vote for riding's delegate who will represent you and vote on your behalf at convention," the email blast read. Mr. Sloan, once a contender for the leadership, has denied that he was “ever aware” that a campaign contribution had been made by Paul Fromm and suggested the Conservative Party bears some culpability in the matter. He pointed out that the party was responsible for processing the donation and took the requisite 10 per cent cut. Mr. Sloan said when it came to his attention that a donation had been made, he asked the party to issue a refund. Mr. O'Toole initiated the process on Monday after it was reported by PressProgress, a left-leaning outlet funded by the Broadbent Institute, that Mr. Fromm had donated to Mr. Sloan’s leadership bid. (The donation had been made under Mr. Fromm’s full name, Frederick P. Fromm.) Secret ballots were cast virtually. “Racism is a disease of the soul, repugnant to our core values. It has no place in our country. It has no place in the Conservative Party of Canada. I won’t tolerate it,” Mr. O’Toole said in a statement on Monday, announcing the decision to push for Mr. Sloan's removal. That statement was an echo of another he released Sunday, in which he denounced far-right groups and said they have “no place” in the Conservative Party. It seemed to presage Mr. Sloan's removal and the effort to prevent him running under the party's banner in the next election. According to a report in the Toronto Star, there was also friction between the Conservative Party and Mr. Sloan due to "a series of robocalls and sent emails encouraging social conservatives to attend the party’s upcoming policy convention in March" and concern over whether he was using the membership list given to leadership candidates. "These actions have been a consistent distraction from our efforts to grow the party and focus on the work we need to do. Events of the past week were simply the last straw and led to our caucus making the decision it did today," Mr. O'Toole's said Wednesday. https://twitter.com/DerekSloanCPC/status/1351336543995179010 A vote on the fate of Mr. Sloan’s place in the party was triggered under the provisions of the Reform Act, which the Conservative caucus agreed to invoke at the start of the parliamentary session in 2019. The act features a mechanism that gives caucus members the power to decide, by a majority vote, whether or not to expel a sitting MP from caucus. Mr. O’Toole also had to secure the support of at least two dozen members of his caucus to hold a vote. Defending himself from the campaign to expel him, Mr. Sloan accused the Conservatives of holding him to a double standard. He noted that Mr. Fromm, using his full name, also applied for party membership and was able to cast a vote in the leadership race. "Even though the representatives of the campaigns of O'Toole, MacKay and Lewis all had scrutineers present, not one of the campaigns objected to his ballot, and it seems that his ballot was accepted," he said. With Mr. Sloan booted from his caucus, he will sit as an Independent MP alongside ex-Liberal justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (Vancouver Granville, B.C.), who was elected as an Independent after having been booted from the Liberal Party after butting heads with the Prime Minister's Office in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Two other ex-Liberals also sit as Independents after having been forced to leave the party's bench over ethical issues. It’s not the first time Mr. Sloan’s fate in the party has come into question. He faced potential expulsion last year during the leadership race over comments he made that appeared to question whether chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who is of Asian descent, was a pawn of China. He denied that he had ever questioned Dr. Tam’s loyalty to Canada. There appeared to be some internal division over whether such comments merited expulsion, if it would mean upsetting social conservative voters, many of whom facilitated his viability as a candidate in the leadership race. At the time, Mr. O'Toole used his vote to keep Mr. Sloan in caucus as part of leadership campaign advertising. Mr. Sloan placed last in the four-person race in August, having been knocked off the ranked ballot in the first round of voting. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) expressed support for Mr. O’Toole’s move: “Political parties need to remain vigilant, particularly in the wake of what we’ve seen in the United States, from the infiltration or the active presence of fringe or extremist or violent or unacceptable or intolerant elements.” In the wake of the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill led by a mob of pro-Trump supporters, there’s been renewed scrutiny on how Mr. O’Toole branded his candidacy, with Liberals putting him on blast on social media and in their fundraising appeals. In a fundraising email last week, the Liberals accused Mr. O’Toole’s Conservatives of playing a game of divisive politics through his use of the slogan “Take back Canada.” They also pointed to the Conservatives’ attempt to accuse the Trudeau government of “rigging the election,” a Trumpian refrain, and the surfacing of an undated photo of deputy leader, Candice Bergen, sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat. Addressing those attacks, Mr. O’Toole said in a press statement the Liberals are “welcome to try” to link him to the far right, but that Canadians know better. He also noted he was “quick to condemn” the riot. The Hill Times

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Conservative caucus votes to expel Sloan, former contender for party leadership

He faced potential expulsion last year during the leadership race over comments he made that appeared to question whether chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who is of Asian descent, was a pawn of China.

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