OTTAWA — A longtime Conservative party organizer says Patrick Brown was personally involved in an arrangement to see her paid by a third-party company while working on his campaign.
Debra Jodoin, through her lawyer, released a statement Thursday evening, after the party spent the past two days seized with the fallout from Brown’s disqualification.
The chairman of the party’s leadership election organizing committee said Tuesday its members voted 11 to six to disqualify him from the race due to “serious allegations of wrongdoing.”
While the party has not revealed the allegations, it has said they appear to contravene financing rules under the Canada Elections Act, and came from within Brown’s own campaign.
Jodoin revealed herself to be the whistleblower in a statement circulated by her legal counsel.
In it, Jodoin said she briefly worked as a regional organizer for Brown’s campaign from May to the beginning of June at his request.
Jodoin said Brown told her “it was permissible … to be employed by a company as a consultant, and then for that company to have me volunteer with the campaign.”
She goes on to say Brown connected her by “text message with a third party for that purpose.”
Jodoin said she grew concerned with the arrangement and “suspected it was not OK.”
The statement said in June, she asked Brown that the campaign pick up her expenses, saying that he expressed surprise and communicated he was “on it.”
Jodoin said she and her expenses were paid for by a corporation and “not the Brown campaign.”
Her lawyer Jason Beitchman said Jodoin shared her concerns with the party and that it was at her request officials work to keep her identity confidential.
She described herself in the statement as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and its predecessors for 22 years, and an organizer with many different campaigns over that time.
A request for comment from Brown’s campaign has yet to be returned.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2022.
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
