Conservative insiders furious after Lisa Raitt booted from Milton riding association
OTTAWA-Conservatives in the GTA riding of Milton are furious after former deputy leader Lisa Raitt was unceremoniously booted from the local riding association, sources tell the Star.
Four sources said the former deputy leader's ouster came amid a disagreement between the riding association's board and the new candidate, Nadeem Akbar, over bringing in an Alberta-based organizer to run the local campaign.
After the spat, Akbar used the riding association's annual general meeting to fill half of the spots on the board with his preferred slate, turfing out longtime volunteers and Raitt, who held the seat for the Conservatives from 2008 to 2019, when she lost to Liberal Adam van Koeverden.
One source said the scrap could cost the party dearly in an Ontario riding the Conservatives held for years - and would like to win back.
Darryl Demille, who along with several others resigned from the board in protest after the vote and has volunteered with provincial and federal conservatives for 31 years, told the Star that the replacement of the board came as a total surprise."
(People) are more hurt than anything ... especially when the former deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada was one of those people voted off," Demille said in an interview Friday.
Akbar's choice for campaign manager was David Parker, a political consultant and podcaster who ran Erin O'Toole's field operations during the 2020 leadership campaign. According to one member of the board, Akbar wanted to pay $6,000 to Parker to run his campaign - before the actual campaign began.
The board balked at the request, as well as a request to set up a local campaign office before the writ was dropped.
The EDA refused to pay me, so I ended up not doing any work for (Akbar) because of that," Parker confirmed in an interview with the Star.
I think that's why he was a little bit pissed."
At the riding association's next annual general meeting, where 10 of the 20 directors were up for re-election, including Raitt, Akbar fielded his own full slate of 10, all of whom were ultimately elected.
That left Raitt, and other directors who had worked for the riding for years, out in the cold.
In an email to the Star, Akbar said Raitt lost her seat because she is no longer the candidate of record. He is.
I hold Lisa in high regard, and I value her advice, especially since she's been such a strong representative for the people of Milton in the past," he said.
I know I have big shoes to fill, and I will continue to count on her guidance and experience to help us win this riding back, and show the people of Milton that only Canada's Conservatives will secure the future."
But multiple sources said Akbar could have just run a smaller slate, in order to leave room for Raitt to leave on her own terms, rather than create a conflict.
Two sources told the Star that Conservative party brass were aware of the push to replace Raitt and other members of the Milton board, and to bring in Parker, and while concerns about that had been raised, they were ultimately ignored.
Members in riding associations determine their board of directors through a fair and democratic election process. We don't comment on who the members choose to vote for, nor do we have any knowledge of how they will vote," wrote Cory Hann, the Conservative party's director of communications, in an email to the Star.
Lisa Raitt is obviously an incredibly valued member of our team and someone who we lean on for advice often," Hann added.
Raitt remains one of the most popular figures in the Conservative movement. She first won the riding for the Conservatives in 2008, and was immediately appointed to cabinet.
Her name surfaced early as a replacement for then-leader Stephen Harper, and when he ultimately stepped down, she was among those vying to replace him in the 2017 contest ultimately won by Andrew Scheer.
He appointed her deputy leader and she criss-crossed the country raising funds and profile for the party in the lead-up to the 2019 campaign.
Reached in Cape Breton Friday, Raitt would only say she enjoyed (her) time serving on the board."
What I will miss most are the fellow board directors. We've gone through so much since 2008, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to continue to serve the Milton community in whatever way I can."
Asked if she will stay involved with the party going forward, Raitt said some of her best friends remain elected MPs and she'll always try to help them out."
Akbar describes himself as a corporate IT consultant with 17 years experience in the industry across the Greater Toronto Area, work online records suggest is based not out of the riding he hopes to represent but nearby Ancaster, a suburb of Hamilton.
In the 2019 federal election, Milton-area Conservatives tried often to highlight the fact the Liberal running in the riding didn't actually come from the area, and therefore wouldn't represent their interests.
But Olympian Adam van Koeverden, who grew up in Oakville, Ont., still managed to take the riding from Raitt, a loss felt keenly across the Conservative party.
Van Koeverden, who is running again for the Liberals in the next election, said even after she lost Raitt was always kind, helpful and quick to respond to his own requests for help better serving the riding.
On a local Milton social media site discussing her departure, he said he had nothing but respect and admiration.
This is a shame."
Correction - May 1, 2021: This story has been edited to reflect that Darryl Demille in fact resigned from the board of Milton riding association following the vote.
Stephanie Levitz is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @StephanieLevitz
Alex Boutilier is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @alexboutilier