{"id":34591,"date":"2024-05-23T17:21:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T21:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34591"},"modified":"2024-05-30T16:53:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T20:53:58","slug":"gilliland-candidacy-nixed-by-conservatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/gilliland-candidacy-nixed-by-conservatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilliland candidacy nixed by Conservatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ward 2 Councillor Rachel Gilliland\u2019s bid to carry the Conservative Party of Canada banner for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill in the next Federal election has been nixed by the Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement to supporters and media on Wednesday afternoon, Gilliland said the Conservative Party (CPC) had denied her bid to be on the ballot ahead of this Tuesday\u2019s riding meeting where local party members will ultimately vote on the winning candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her statement, Gilliland said the party had \u201cdenied\u201d her the opportunity to participate in the riding contest, a move which has left her with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided to run for federal office on a platform to protect our democracy, keep our communities safe, and bring back pay cheques that provide us with the very basics of food and shelter,\u201d she said in the statement. \u201cI started my campaign for the federal Conservative nomination a year ago by stating that I would be running a clean campaign. I believe people deserve to have their elected officials possess the basic integrity needed when making decisions on their behalf and I am proud to say I have kept this promise. I was overwhelmed with the support I have received for my candidacy and am proud to have signed up over 580 members for the Conservative Party in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of those she signed up, she said, \u201chave never been in a political party before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CPC, she contended, has not given her any reason for rejecting her bid and giving residents the \u201cchoice to decide for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CPC, however, says Gilliland did not abide by Party rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRachel Gilliland was in clear violation of rules outlined in the CPC \u2018Rules and Procedures for Candidate Nominations\u2019,\u201d said Sarah Fischer, the CPC\u2019s Director of Communications. \u201cThe local Candidate Nomination Committee (CNC) recommended disqualification and the National Candidate Selection Committee upheld the local CNC decision. After review, the National Council did not accept Ms. Gilliland’s appeal of this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision pertaining to Councillor Gilliland is just the latest turn in the fraught race to challenge Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill in the next Federal campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, former Postmedia columnist Sabrina Maddeaux suspended her bid for the riding citing a lack of \u201cfaith in the integrity\u201d of this election process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite raising concerns to the Conservative Party nearly two weeks ago \u2013\u2013 despite submitting clear evidence of a corrupted process and potential illegal actions taken by another campaign \u2013\u2013 nothing has been done,\u201d said Maddeaux in her statement. \u201cThere has been no evidence that a promised internal investigation is actually underway. No next steps shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite repeated requests, there’s been zero communication to candidates or our riding\u2019s Conservative voters to make them aware of interference with the democratic process. Zero communication that my campaign has been the clear target of highly unethical, and potentially illegal, efforts to sway the vote. Zero meaningful reassurance to me, other candidates, or voters, that this will still be an open and fair election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these sentiments were echoed by Gilliland this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilliland said she had been \u201cvery concerned and troubled\u201d by what she described as a \u201cnumber of irregularities and suspected contravention\u201d of nomination rules, including \u201cnegative character emails against three candidates sent to new members prior to the release of any final lists, targeted emails and door knocks on new members as recent as April 2024, current EDA Board President and other Board members actively campaigning in favour of a candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe strongly in the values and principles of fairness and transparency and this extends to my public work, my personal decisions, and to my conduct in the local nomination process,\u201d Gilliland concluded. \u201cI have provided all evidence of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour by one of the current candidates\u2019 campaigns that was forwarded to me by many of my supporters to the Conservative Party of Canada to aid in their internal investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked for a response to Fischer\u2019s statement, Gilliland added that while she understood that the CPC\u2019s decision did not need to be accompanied by reasons, \u201cobtaining this information is crucial for my professional development and future participation within the party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still in the race are former Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis and Richmond Hill Councillor Carmine Perrelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ward 2 Councillor Rachel Gilliland\u2019s bid to carry the Conservative Party of Canada banner for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill in the next Federal election has been nixed by the Party. In a statement to supporters and media on Wednesday afternoon, Gilliland said the Conservative Party (CPC) had denied her bid to be on the ballot ahead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8ZV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 02:55:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}