John Rustad is responding to allegations of voter fraud that have marred the review into his leadership of the B.C. Conservatives.
He spoke exclusively to CBC News before a meet-and-greet in the Kelowna area Wednesday night.
Asked about the allegations of fake member signs-ups in the area, Rustad said, “I think you should ask the party about that. But as soon as I heard about it, the first thing I did was call the executive director and say, ‘This is ridiculous. These things need to be removed. We can’t have them as part of the vote.'”
WATCH | Allegations emerge amid leadership review:
A review of John Rustad’s leadership of the B.C. Conservative party has led to allegations of fake membership sign ups and ballot stuffing. As CBC’s Katie DeRosa reports, it’s caused more infighting within the Official Opposition.
Each of those new members provided the same email domain and fake phone numbers — and their membership fees were all purchased using three credit cards — according to two party sources, whom CBC News has agreed not to name because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The sources also told CBC that three people connected to the irregular memberships resigned from their roles within the party and had their party memberships revoked.
CBC News asked Rustad if he knows any of the three individuals alleged to be involved or had any knowledge of their actions before the fraudulent memberships were flagged.
WATCH | Leadership review set to wrap:
Voting is underway in the B.C. Conservatives’ review of John Rustad’s leadership — a process that has included allegations of fraudulent member sign-ups and ballot stuffing. B.C. Conservative Party whip Bruce Banman said he has confidence in their leader. Conservative Party Whip, Bruce Banman, says he has confidence in the party leader.
CBC has asked Elections B.C. if they are investigating the matter.
Rustad said he’s also concerned with other aspects of the voting process, pointing to messages that were sent to B.C. Conservative supporters by a group opposed to Rustad’s leadership, encouraging people to vote against him.
“What has gone on in Kelowna actually is very disturbing. We’ve had a breach of our database. We’ve had emails and text messages that have gone out to members in our party using our database and information illegally,” Rustad said.
CBC News obtained one of the text messages, which reads: “There are 2 questions on the ballot about John Rustad’s leadership and we’re encouraging members to vote NO on both. The reason we have your phone number is that either you know one of our team members, we signed you up at your door, or you previously responded to a text as a member.”
Rustad said the party has had people “impersonating members from a Conservative movement as part of that and things that have gone out.”
“We’ve had members that have been entered into our system that are inappropriately entered. So we’ve removed the members,” he said. “We still have to deal with these breaches and these other issues that we’ve had as a party.”
WATCH | Party divisions front and centre as Rustad undergoes review:
The B.C. Conservative party has launched a leadership review into John Rustad. It comes as Rustad struggles to control infighting within the conservative movement. Our Katie DeRosa has been looking into this.
The leadership review is mandated under the party’s constitution because Rustad lost the October election.
The fraud allegations have deepened existing divisions within the party, which is a coalition of B.C. Conservatives and former B.C. United MLAs.
At an emergency caucus meeting Friday, MLAs asked Rustad to leave the room so they could talk about his leadership.
Peter Milobar, MLA for Kamloops Centre, would not say on Monday if he has confidence in Rustad’s leadership.
“John and I are two of the OGs, the old goats you could say,” Banman said, referring to the fact that he and Rustad revived the B.C. Conservatives after they were both kicked out of the B.C. United caucus by leader Kevin Falcon.
“I’ve been with John since day one. I have great confidence in my leader. John took this party from two of us to becoming within a hair of actually forming government,” Banman said. “I am proud to stand beside John and I will continue to stand behind John.”
LISTEN | Banman backs Rustad amid voter fraud controversy:
The Early EditionB.C. Conservative Party Whip speaks about allegations of fake sign-ups during leadership review
Members of the B.C. Conservatives are having their say in the leadership review of John Rustad. The process has been marred by allegations of ballot stuffing and fake memberships. The party says more than 2,000 sign-ups were cancelled over concerns they were fraudulent. Voting on Rustad’s leadership will be complete by Saturday.To look ahead to that, we’re joined by the B.C. Conservative Party Whip, Bruce Banman.
“They were attempted to be signed up,” Banman said. “And the safety nets we have in place caught it, stopped it and now there’s a report going on. I have 100 per cent confidence with what’s going on with regards to the vote.”
The vote in Kelowna is scheduled for Thursday night.
All voting in the leadership review is set to be completed by Saturday, but the party has not yet announced exactly when the leadership review results will be made public.
