A Conservative MP from Calgary has fired a summer student working in his office following allegations that someone stole campaign data from party leadership contender Erin O’Toole.
A Conservative MP from Calgary has fired a summer student working in his office following allegations that someone stole campaign data from party leadership contender Erin O’Toole.
Greg McLean — one of dozens of MPs who have endorsed O’Toole — made the announcement in a terse statement Tuesday morning.
“Upon learning of a breach of trust involving a summer student in my office, I immediately took action and the individual was terminated,” said McLean, MP for Calgary Centre.
“This matter is entirely regrettable.”
McLean’s office confirmed the firing was in connection with allegations by the O’Toole campaign that first surfaced publicly late Friday night: that rival Peter MacKay’s campaign hacked into a trove of confidential campaign information and broke the law.
McLean’s office didn’t name the student.
MacKay campaign denies allegations
The MacKay campaign has denied the allegations and said Tuesday the fact that an MP’s summer student was involved raises new questions about whether O’Toole’s campaign is improperly using House of Commons resources on his leadership bid.
O’Toole had previously been scrutinized for using his parliamentary email address to facilitate campaign endorsements, as has one of his supporters, Sen. Leo Housakos.
“Given Mr. McLean’s statement today, this is looking more like a story of the O’Toole campaign’s negligence rather than the sinister attack on their internal information they are trying to allege,” MacKay campaign spokesperson Jordan Paquet said in an email.
“The only leaks seem to be from inside the O’Toole campaign so, as we’ve said before, they might be better off talking to their volunteers and staff rather than using police resources for their campaign’s benefit.”
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