Two Tory Riding Executives Quit Over ‘Troubling’ Nomination Race

A Conservative Party logo is seen before the opening of the party's national convention in Halifax on Aug. 23, 2018. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)

Two Conservative Party riding executives in Southern Ontario have resigned because of what one of them labelled a “troubling” nomination race that she says was unfairly tilted in favour of one candidate.

Catherine Agar and Brian Kaufman, former president and vice-president respectively of the Electoral District Association for the riding of Oxford, are both exiting their positions just days after Arpan Khanna, a lawyer from Mississauga, Ont., won the riding’s Tory nomination race, according to a Globe and Mail article.

Khanna won the party’s nomination in the Conservative stronghold riding on March 25 after a tight race.

Khanna previously served as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s Ontario campaign co-chair during Poilievre’s run in the party’s 2022 leadership race.

Khanna also received endorsements in his bid for the Oxford Conservative nomination from both Poilievre and Tory House Leader Andrew Scheer.

However, Agar wrote in a letter announcing her resignation and obtained by the Globe that the Oxford nomination race was unfairly tilted in favour of a Khanna victory.

She also said she believed Khanna only had a small amount of support from Oxford constituents holding Conservative Party memberships.

“These past two months have been very troubling,” Agar wrote in the letter. “The nomination process is full of problems; the rules were repeatedly ignored and my concerns dismissed by the party.”

Agar added that the Conservative Party “showed favouritism” toward Khanna as its preferred candidate and delayed nominee approvals, which she said left Khanna’s two rival candidates with just “one week with a membership list to campaign.”

“The nomination race has caused deep divisions in the Oxford membership and I understand the frustration and anger,” she wrote. “It is my personal opinion that the Oxford nomination was hijacked by people from Ottawa and Brampton who crafted a win for Mr. Khanna with a small sample of the Oxford Conservative membership.”

Oxford Nomination

The seat in Oxford opened up after longtime Conservative MP David MacKenzie announced he'd be stepping down in December 2022 and officially left the seat in early 2023.

MacKenzie also voiced concerns of favouritism in the party’s nomination race for the riding after Scheer posted on Twitter his endorsement of Khanna on Feb. 24.

“Arpan will be an excellent MP, and I know he will work tirelessly to make our leader Pierre Poilievre the next Prime Minister of Canada,” Scheer wrote several weeks before Khanna won the nomination race.

Prior to the decision, the Conservative Party also disqualified one of the riding’s nominees, Gerrit Van Dorland, for which it received criticism, including from Khanna.

Conservative Party spokesperson Sarah Fischer said Van Dorland, a former Parliament Hill staffer, was disqualified from the race for failing to provide information such as a list of his social media accounts, along with comments made online or in media interviews.

However, a spokesman from Van Dorland’s campaign told The Canadian Press that the party didn’t provide it with a reason for his disqualification.

Pro-life organization RightNow released a statement suggesting that Van Dorland was ousted from the race both because of his “pro-life” views and his perceived popularity among the riding’s Conservative Party members.

Khanna wrote on social media shortly after that he disagreed with Van Dorland’s disqualification.

“My strong view is that everyone should be allowed to freely and fairly contest this nomination, and that local members should decide who their candidate will be,” he said in a statement.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.