Sabrina Maddeaux dropped out of the Conservative party nomination contest for the federal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill riding after what she said was a “corrupted election process” and “potentially illegal actions taken by another campaign.”
In a video and thread she posted on X, the long-time National Post columnist turned Conservative nomination contestant explained why she’s lost faith in the integrity of the nomination race.
“Despite raising concerns with the Conservative party nearly two weeks ago, despite submitting clear evidence of a corrupted process and potentially illegal actions taken by another campaign, nothing has been done,” Maddeaux said. “We asked again and again for action, but there’s been no sign that a promised internal investigation is actually underway. No next steps shared as we get closer and closer to a vote.”
Maddeaux accused “another campaign” of having access to an updated and full list of Conservative party members in the riding, giving them an advantage.
The Conservative Electoral District Association confirmed with True North that Costas Menegakis is the only approved candidate for the riding. However, they are still in the process of approving other candidates.
“If one campaign has this list and others don’t, the nomination is effectively rigged in their favour,” Maddeaux said. “They can pour all their time and resources into targeting this list while other campaigns cast broader nets. They can be the first to interact with confirmed voters, ask for their vote, and campaign against other candidates.”
The party has a rule against providing a list of current members to any campaign before that party has been greenlit to run,
One of the party’s rules for candidate nominations states, “Subsequent lists will be given to all nomination contestants at the same time.”
CPC spokeswoman Sarah Fischer told True North it’s common for the party to receive complaints from candidates against their competitors over suspicions of wrongdoing and the use of membership lists.
“In fact, we received a complaint about Ms. Maddeaux’s campaign sending out an email to current and former members of the party when she should not have had access to a membership list,” Fischer said.
Maddeaux said the “other campaign” used the updated membership list to send a series of emails to new and current members. She said the emails were “full of defamatory smear attacks and deliberate misinformation” about herself.
“The Conservative party received a complaint from her campaign about emails being circulated to members in the riding highlighting things Ms. Maddeaux has written and said in the past,” Fischer said.
Maddeaux believes she has evidence that another contestant had access to new members, with whom Maddeaux’s team signed up for the nomination race.
“The email was forwarded to me not just by existing members, but even more concerning, new members who we sold memberships to in recent weeks,” Maddeaux said. “Sometimes, old lists float around. This wasn’t that. This email was sent to new members who had never been part of the Conservative party before and would not appear on any old lists.
Maddeaux said she was receiving emails from members she signed up who were concerned about the smear campaign.
“As one member wrote to me, ‘The smearing is either coming from an outside entity, which is highly concerning, or an inside entity, which is more concerning,’” she said on X.
Maddeaux also pointed to the fact that the riding was found to have been the target of Chinese interference in the 2021 election by the recent Foreign Interference Commission.
According to Maddeaux, the person who sent the emails used a fake name that wasn’t on the party’s membership list
“Multiple members told me they felt harassed by this unknown sender, didn’t feel secure voting, and were concerned about both their data being compromised and the integrity of the election,” she said on X. “It was obvious why they might feel intimidated. An unknown entity had their confidential personal information and was attempting to aggressively influence their vote.”
Maddeaux also believes other candidates have begun knocking on the doors of Conservative members whom her team has signed up. She said the other campaign used talking points similar to those the anonymous emailer was using.
If her hunch is correct she accused the other campaigner of violating the Criminal Code for identity fraud and conveying false information.
True North contacted Menegakis for comment, but he did not respond before the deadline.