Retiring long-time Conservative MP criticizes party for nomination interference in B.C. riding

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Retiring Conservative MP Ed Fast has slammed his own party for interfering in the nomination battle for his successor and is endorsing a long-time provincial politician who is running as an independent.

Former B.C. cabinet minister Mike de Jong had spent a year organizing a drive to win the Conservative nomination only to be rejected by the party.

Mr. Fast, who has represented the Abbotsford area for nearly 20 years, is the latest Conservative to publicly criticize the party amid a federal election campaign that is proving much tighter than the party had expected just a year ago.

He said he was incensed when, “at the 11th hour,” the party overrode the local riding association’s recommended choice of Mr. de Jong, who represented the area provincially for 30 years. The Conservatives disqualified Mr. de Jong, telling him he was unqualified, a position the party has not explained.

Instead, the Conservatives appointed Sukhman Gill, a 25-year-old Langley blueberry farmer, to run in the Abbotsford-South Langley riding. The riding association had earlier disqualified Mr. Gill as a candidate, Mr. Fast said.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Mr. Fast said that Canada needs Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to win to restore economic prosperity. But he added that his party is “abandoning our grassroots conservative principles and allowing faceless party officials to recklessly push their friends and insiders into positions of power.”

He said the decision to eject Mr. de Jong and appoint Mr. Gill was disrespectful. He said he was told by someone with the party’s national campaign that the Conservatives had long intended to appoint Mr. Gill.

“That’s not fair to the other candidates. It’s not fair to our community, who effectively have had no say in who their representative will be in Ottawa,” Mr. Fast said in an interview. He would not disclose any more information on that confidential conversation.

Mr. Gill did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. Fast’s allegations Tuesday.

Sam Lilly, a spokesperson for the federal Conservatives, did not answer The Globe and Mail’s questions about Mr. Fast’s endorsement and allegations sent via e-mail Tuesday. But, in a statement, Mr. Lilly said the party does not comment on why certain candidates are not selected and added it is proud of its current slate.

On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the federal Conservatives would be in a better position if his own campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, was overseeing Mr. Poilievre’s election campaign strategy. Mr. Teneycke, once a spokesman for then-prime minister Stephen Harper, has accused Mr. Poilievre’s team of committing “campaign malpractice” by blowing an almost 25-point lead heading into the race.

Mr. Fast says he has no problem with his party appointing candidates, something most parties do from time to time, but he took issue with wasting the time of Mr. de Jong and the handful of other candidates vying for the reliably Conservative Fraser Valley riding.

“Why did they wait for over a year to do that?” he said. “If you’re gonna do that, just be open and transparent about it.”

Mr. de Jong said since he recently decided to run as an independent his office has seen “a fairly steady parade” of other B.C. grassroots Conservatives unhappy with their local nominations.

“My sense is that there is an element of relief that someone is prepared to stand up and say ‘Look, this is not the democracy that people in Canada want,’” said Mr. de Jong, who added that if he becomes the first independent MP elected since Jody Wilson-Raybould, he would still likely support much of the Conservative agenda if the party is elected to form government.

“I can’t help but observe: a lot of this stuff tended to occur back when the Conservative Party was up 24 points in the polls, when some of that arrogance was probably taking over and the idea of offending 1,000 voters, or more, didn’t concern people,” Mr. de Jong said. “Well, it’s a different story now.”

Kevin Gillies, the Liberal candidate for Abbotsford-South Langley, said the in-fighting has opened up a lane for him to win the riding, which edges onto the southern border with the United States. He said given this proximity, many people are mainly concerned about electing a strong prime minister to battle U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade war.

“It’s kind of weird that I find myself in one of the weirdest races in B.C. and maybe Canada,” he told The Globe.