Liberal leadership hopeful Christy Clark faces scrutiny over past Conservative membership
The former premier of British Columbia previously denied ever being a member of the Conservative Party while speaking to the CBC.
UPDATE: Christy Clark has dropped out of the Liberal leadership race since this report was published.
I want to thank the hundreds of volunteers across Canada who’ve pledged their support for me over this past week. We’ve put together an amazing team on very short notice.
— Christy Clark (@christyclarkbc) January 14, 2025
But, friends, I have made the difficult decision to step back.
While we have come a long way, in a…
On Monday's live stream, Sheila Gunn Reid and David Menzies discussed Liberal Party leadership hopeful Christy Clark's past affiliation with the Conservative Party and the scrutiny she is facing for it now during the current Liberal leadership race.
Clark has expressed her desire to run for leader of the federal Liberal Party, although she has not officially launched a campaign yet. The former premier of British Columbia was questioned about her past Conservative membership in 2022 when she supported Jean Charest, and initially denied ever being a member, calling herself a lifelong Liberal.
However the Conservative Party provided electronic records showing that Clark did in fact join the Conservatives, and Clark has since said that she "misspoke" while claiming she was never a Conservative.
Well, I misspoke.
— Christy Clark (@christyclarkbc) January 11, 2025
Sh*t happens.
Lesson learned 🤦♀️ …
I have always been clear that I supported Jean Charest to stop Pierre Poilievre. Not backing away from that. He’s the most divisive politician we’ve seen in years and I felt it was my duty as a Cdn to stop him in his…
The documents show that Clark purchased a membership to the Conservative Party of Canada through Jean Charest's leadership campaign, and it was active from June 2, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
"So Clark says, 'I was never a Conservative, never never never,' like we're all hard of remembering when you endorsed Jean Charest, the actual Liberal who was running to lead the Conservatives," said Sheila.
"Then she said, 'well why don't you produce my ballot?' So Jenni Byrne actually produced the membership. So Jenni Byrne is an adviser to Pierre Poilievre...and they produced the [membership]," she added.
The leadership race was sparked after Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party and as prime minister on January 6, 2025. Trudeau declared that he would remain in his role as prime minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party is selected.
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