Conservative MP Derek Sloan says he’ll fight efforts to expel him from party ranks

Conservative MP Derek Sloan says he’ll fight efforts by his party’s leader to boot him from caucus.

Sloan says a decision by leader Erin O’Toole that he should be tossed out over a donation to his leadership campaign by a known white supremacist is ridiculous.

O’Toole announced he’s launching the effort to remove Sloan late Monday, after news broke that Sloan’s campaign had received a donation from Paul Fromm last year.

Racism has no place in the Conservative Party of Canada. My statement: pic.twitter.com/TP6uATWOi3

— Erin O’Toole (@erinotoole) January 18, 2021

O’Toole framed the decision as being a question of having no tolerance for racism within his party.

But Sloan is raising questions about that approach, saying Fromm is a party member and that fact would have previously been known both to O’Toole and to the party itself.

pic.twitter.com/AJDnyQFPv6

— MP Derek Sloan (@DerekSloanCPC) January 19, 2021

Sloan and O’Toole went head-to-head in the Conservative party leadership race.

To kick out one of their own, 20 per cent of Conservative MPs, 24 of the party’s current 121 MPs, must sign in writing a notice seeking a review of Sloan’s membership in the caucus.

The matter must then be put to a vote by secret ballot and a majority of MPs must support expulsion.