Ontario PCs to hold HWAD nomination meeting April 24, after year of controversy
The party says members who wish to become candidates must have applied by March 31
The Ontario PC Party nomination meeting in the Hamilton-West Ancaster Dundas (HWAD) riding that was originally held in May 2017 then rescheduled to April 15 after the controversial results were dismissed then cancelled due to weather, is finally back on again.
Party officials announced they'll try one more time. April 24 is the new date.
The party says, in a message posted on its website, members who wished to become a candidate must have applied by March 31, 2018.
One member who won't be running is Vikram Singh. He ran in the the original nomination meeting in May of 2017. He won the combined total of the majority of the voting tables, he said in a court document. The results of the table where party staff double-checked credentials, he said, put another candidate, Ben Levitt, in first place.
Investigation
Police are investigating potential criminal activity at the meeting. In the fall, Hamilton police used a search warrant to obtain two cardboard boxes — one with ballots, one with credentials forms — from the May 7 nomination meeting for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.
Police also examined a large volume of emails and two USB drives containing digital versions of those emails.
The party says it voluntarily handed over the materials to investigators at its lawyer's Bay Street office in Toronto on Oct. 27.
Ontario's Ministry of Attorney General has asked the federal prosecution office to handle the case, to avoid any appearance of political interference in any legal actions taken.
Then-party president Rick Dykstra said the PCs could pick whatever candidate it wanted, regardless of who wins at a nomination meeting.
He also said Singh "inspired mistrust" and didn't fit the right demographic. In January, Singh, a lawyer from Dundas, Ont., dropped a lawsuit he had filed against the party over the nomination. He applied to run in the April nomination meeting but that application was rejected.
The nomination meeting will take place starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Merrit Building at the Ancaster Fairgrounds in Jerseyville, Ont and people who were registered members as of April 2 are eligible to vote.