Poilievre's Brantford candidate choice prompts Conservative departures

In September, Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre exercised his power as leader, and chose the party’s candidate, despite there being others interested in vying for the spot.

CHCH News spoke with one of those men, who is leaving the party and plans to run as an independent.

When Poilievre announced Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis as the Conservative candidate in a yet to be announced by-election, he upset some people.

On Sept. 20, retired MP Phil McColeman was seen walking out in protest when Davis was speaking.

“In my view, they should have had a nomination meeting — they should have just had this out publicly,” said Lori Turnbull, a professor at Dalhousie University. “They should have allowed the different people who wanted to run, let them run and let somebody win the nomination. There’s nothing wrong, from a legal perspective, with a leader appointing someone — that’s an option a leader has — but in this case it seems to have led to more problems, because they knew several people, serious candidates, wanted to put their name in the ring.”

One of those candidates was local pastor Dave Carroll, who spent two decades in the Conservative party in Brantford-Brant South.

“It was definitely disappointing,” said Carroll. “I’ve been part of the local conservative media for 20 years, I’ve been the president, I’ve helped run these nomination campaigns before.”

The 50-year-old who was born and raised in Brantford took some time to reflect and confided in Independent Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady, and chose to run as an independent too.

“To be able to hear that she could go to any party, to be able to work with the party in power, to be able to work with opposition, to be able to work with other parties, to be able to best serve her riding — it was incredibly enticing,” said Carroll.

Turnbull says this could all backfire in Poilivre’s face.

“This is the last thing Pierre Poilievre needs, because now he’s fighting on multiple fronts in one riding and I don’t think this is necessarily bad news for the Liberals, because it runs the risk of splitting the Conservative vote big time,” said Turnbull.

There’s no date set for the by-election, which is happening because Conservative MP Larry Brock resigned, but Carroll suggests it could be announced this weekend.