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Campaign Life Coalition calls Abbotsford leadership hopeful ‘cancel culture’ victim

Pro-life group claims that Grant Abraham raised enough money to compete in CPC debate
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Abbotsford’s Grant Abraham was deemed ineligible to participate in the Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership debate, but the Campaign Life Coalition believes he was discriminated against because of his political views. (John Morrow/Abbotsford News)

According to the pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, Abbotsford’s Grant Abraham, who was running for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, is a victim of cancel culture.

Abraham was recently deemed ineligible for the CPC leadership race, but an email shared to his Facebook page from CLC director Jack Fonseca states that they believe Abraham was treated unfairly by the party.

Fonseca said that Abraham met all the requirements, but the CPC’s hidden rules sunk his bid.

“Excitement turned to outrage when, on Sunday [May 1] evening, we learned that Grant Abraham received notice from the party that he allegedly did not meet the financial requirements, in spite of having raised the stated $300K buy-in fee and having obtained the required signatures by the 5 p.m. deadline on April 29th,” the email states.

RELATED: Abbotsford’s Grant Abraham deemed ineligible for Conservative leadership race

Fonseca said that additional fees were added to the $300,000 and that was the reason Abraham was disqualified.

“What they told us is that the party tacked onto the total donations a 15 per cent administration fee that candidates would have to obtain on top of the $300,000, making the real total that a candidate had to raise $345K or even $353K, depending how it’s calculated,” he said.

The email states that Abraham will be appealing the decision based on the ‘false advertising’ of the $300,000 fee.

Fonseca said he believes the CPC is discriminating against conservatives who are pro-life, noting that Leslyn Lewis is the only leadership candidate in the running who is pro-life. He said the party was unable to discriminate against Lewis because she already has a significant following and the backlash would be high.

“One of the pillars of the CPC, and of the broader ‘small-c’ conservative movement, is democracy – letting the people, not the elites, decide who should represent them,” Fonseca said. “Therefore, this sort of cancel culture has no business in the Conservative Party.”

Abraham hosted a press conference over Zoom on Monday (May 9) and reiterated his insistence that he had raised the proper amount of money and stated that the CPC has been uncooperative during the whole situation.

The News has reached out to Abraham and the CPC for more details, but they have not yet responded.



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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