Ontario PC leadership race turmoil mounts; president quits amid sexual misconduct allegations

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Ontario's Progressive Conservatives spent the weekend dealing with the fallout over former leader Patrick Brown's sudden departure, as internal turmoil mounts over how the party will choose a successor.

As of Sunday evening, the party executive had yet to settle on a date for the leadership vote to replace Mr. Brown, who stepped down Thursday over allegations of sexual misconduct. The party has not yet set out the rules, including whether to use paper or electronic ballots, leaving contenders waiting in the wings. Adding to the uncertainty, party president Rick Dykstra announced on Twitter that he is stepping aside and taking "a step back for someone else to lead us through the hard work."

The leadership vote to replace Mr. Brown must be held by March 24, leaving those seeking the helm with precious little time to organize their campaigns and sign up new members ahead of the June 7 provincial election. Amid the turmoil, there were growing concerns on the weekend among those pushing for a leadership race that it could be derailed altogether.

On Sunday, Alykhan Velshi, chief of staff to interim leader Vic Fedeli, announced several staff departures in the party and the Opposition Leader's office. (Mr. Velshi was also chief of staff to Mr. Brown.) Separately, Mr. Velshi warned in a memo to staff that anyone who engages in inappropriate behaviour toward a fellow employee needs to "leave now."

"If you have engaged in inappropriate behaviour toward a fellow staff member in [the leader's office], you need to leave and leave now, because I will redefine the meaning of the word ruthlessness in protecting staff who work for me," he wrote.

Mr. Brown resigned after CTV News aired a report alleging sexual misconduct involving two young women. A visibly upset Mr. Brown vowed during a news conference that he was innocent.

Mr. Dykstra, who did not say why he is leaving the helm of the party, is reportedly facing sexual-misconduct allegations.

Mr. Dykstra announced his resignation late Sunday in a Twitter statement hours before Maclean's magazine published allegations that he was accused of sexually assaulting a young Conservative staffer in 2014, when he was an MP.

In Mr. Dykstra's statement, he wrote he would "step aside" to let someone else take the helm as the party chooses its new leader.

He did not reference any of the allegations reported by Maclean's, but the magazine said Mr. Dykstra told them he "will be responding."

Maclean's said the staffer reported the incident to Ottawa police in 2014, saying that Mr. Dykstra sexually assaulted her after a party.

The magazine reported that senior Conservative campaign operatives were aware of the allegations and decided to allow him to run anyway.

Mr. Dykstra went on to lose his St. Catharines riding and later became president of Ontario's PCs.

Mr. Fedeli said on Monday morning that he was "shocked and disgusted" to learn about the allegations against Mr. Dykstra reported in Maclean's on Sunday night.

"There is no place for this type of alleged behaviour in our party, in politics, or in society as a whole," he said in a statement.

The allegations against Mr. Dykstra have not been substantiated.

On Friday, hours after Tory MPPs selected Mr. Fedeli as their interim leader to replace Mr. Brown, the party executive overruled caucus and opted to hold a leadership race just four months before the provincial election.

Mr. Fedeli, the party's finance critic, is the only one who has declared his intention to run for the leadership. Other rumoured hopefuls include Rod Phillips, former head of newspaper chain Postmedia Network Inc.; Caroline Mulroney, the daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney; and Doug Ford, brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

Clare Schulte-Albert, president of the Eglinton-Lawrence PC Association, sent an e-mail to party members on Sunday saying: "Unfortunately, there is a very strong push to reverse the executive's decision on Friday to initiate a fair and open leadership race. We cannot let this happen."

The party executive was divided over whether to support caucus members who rallied behind Mr. Fedeli or 28 PC candidates who wrote a letter calling for a leadership contest. A slim majority of the party executive voted to hold a race to choose a successor to Mr. Brown before voters go to the polls, with 15 in favour and 10 opposed, according to a list of names obtained by The Globe and Mail.

Some party insiders expressed frustration that Mr. Fedeli has an advantage as interim leader over potential rivals. Mr. Velshi addressed those concerns in his e-mail about a series of staff changes he made on Sunday, including the elimination of three positions in the party and six in the Opposition Leader's office. "I want to be very clear that these decisions followed recommendations I made to the Leader when he asked me to become his chief of staff on Friday evening," he said.

"At no point did the Leader's campaign team attempt to influence or interfere with those decisions."

Mr. Fedeli spent part of the weekend distancing himself from his predecessor by announcing that he plans to launch an investigation into how much the party is spending to defend itself against complaints of voter fraud and broken rules in several local nomination races while Mr. Brown was at the helm. He was responding to an e-mail from Thom Bennett, an Ottawa businessman and party fundraiser, who called on the party to block additional spending on lawsuits. Mr. Bennett also criticized the executive for overruling caucus.

"I fear that this executive decision spells the death knell of the PC Party of Ontario! The majority of our supporters do not understand nor back this stupid and self-serving decision," Mr. Bennett said in the e-mail obtained by The Globe.

Toronto Mayor John Tory was asked by reporters on Sunday about the possibility of Mr. Ford throwing his hat in the ring.

"I have trouble keeping up with his ambitions, but let's just leave it at this: He's going to do what he does, and I'm going to do what I do, which is to continue doing my job here."

Mr. Tory also acknowledged that people have approached him about running. "I have a job here that's keeping me fully occupied," he said.

With a report from Greg McArthur and The Canadian Press