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Patrick Brown disqualified from Conservative leadership race

With two months to go before the Conservative Party chooses its next leader, Patrick Brown has been ejected from the race over allegations he broke financing rules.

Brown quickly fired back, saying in a statement early Wednesday that his disqualification is unfounded and an attempt to ensure his rival Pierre Poilievre wins the race.

The bombshell news came in a statement released late Tuesday night from the party's leadership election organizing committee, which said Brown was being disqualified from the race after "serious allegations of wrongdoing" related to financing rules.

"We regret having to take these steps but we have an obligation to ensure that both our party's rules and federal law are respected by all candidates and campaign teams," said the statement from Ian Brodie, head of the Conservative Party's leadership election organizing committee, which oversees the race.

Those involved did their best to be fair to Brown and his campaign, Brodie said, giving them time to substantively refute the allegations.

"None of these problems has any impact on the integrity of the vote itself," he said, adding the party will share the information it has with Elections Canada.

Brown's campaign shot back, saying it only learned of the decision to eject him through the media.

In a statement, the campaign said the allegations against Brown are anonymous and the campaign was never provided the full details of the allegations. However, the statement said, the campaign still attempted to respond to the party's questions and claims.

Brown's campaign suggested the "reprehensible, undemocratic behaviour" of disqualifying him was done to benefit the race's presumed front-runner, Poilievre. Read the full story here.

Scoring for Canada

(Fernando Llano/The Associated Press)

Canada's Julia Grosso, top, celebrates scoring her side's second goal against Trinidad and Tobago during a CONCACAF Women's Championship soccer match in Monterrey, Mexico,  on Tuesday. Canada won 6-0. Read more from the match here.

In brief

Summer camp season has begun — but with inflation at record highs, summertime child care has become an extraordinary expense for families already overextended by a higher cost of living. Anneliese Lawton, a mother of three from Burlington, Ont., said that the gymnastics summer camp that her children normally attend isn't a financially viable option this year as their budget is stretched by inflation. The camp she had planned to send her two sons to costs $300 a week for each camper, a price she couldn't afford. "As soon as I kind of put that through, I was like, crap, we can't afford for them to do this," Lawton said. Instead, Lawton's sons, ages four and five, respectively, will attend a trampoline and tumbling camp in town for part of the week. With inflation at its peak, summer camp — already a luxury for many families — has become increasingly out of reach as families are being forced to make difficult spending decisions. Canada's inflation rate hit 7.7 per cent last month, an almost 40-year high. Compared to May 2021, consumers were paying 48 per cent more for gas while food prices have gone up 9.7 per cent in the last year. Read the full story here.

First Nations leaders across Canada voted against continuing the suspension of Assembly of First Nations (AFN) national chief RoseAnne Archibald, at the organization's annual general assembly in Vancouver on Tuesday. The AFN's executive committee suspended Archibald last month after she made public statements accusing four staff members of requesting more than $1 million in severance payouts. The committee issued a statement on Monday calling on Archibald to cease actions and statements that "amount to serious breaches of the confidentiality and privacy interests of AFN employees, service providers and others, including making broad allegations of misconduct." The suspension was the subject of three emergency draft resolutions to be brought forward at the assembly Tuesday. Only one was addressed before the day concluded. The majority of chiefs and proxies in attendance Tuesday expressed concerns about the executive committee suspending Archibald and were not in favour of the resolution. Read more on this story here.

An Ontario lawyer in the eye of a $1-million libel suit launched by an anti-vaccine nursing group says vexatious lawsuits are increasingly being used as tools by special interest groups looking to silence critics when it comes to medical misinformation. Paul Champ, a human rights and labour lawyer based in Ottawa, spoke to CBC News about the lawsuit filed last fall by three Ontario nurses. Kristen Nagle, of London, Kristal Pitter of Tillsonburg and Sarah Choujounian of Toronto have been investigated by the province's nursing regulator for allegedly spreading medical misinformation and conspiracy theories on social media.The three are key members of Canadian Frontline Nurses, a group that campaigns against conventional medical wisdom through rallies and retails alternative health practices and related merchandise. They're seeking $1 million in damages for "embarrassment and humiliation" over separate online editorials published by the Canadian Nurses Association and the B.C. media outlet Together News Inc. Champ, the lawyer for Together News Inc., argues that rather than seek legitimate justice, the plaintiffs are attempting to use the court system for an ulterior purpose. Read more here.

Members of Canada's military will soon be soldiering under much less strict dress rules as the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) introduces updated regulations on personal grooming. Under the new rules — which were released Tuesday and go into effect in September — CAF will allow military personnel to, among other things, colour their hair and grow it to any length, and to sport face tattoos. "The bottom line is the Canadian Forces dress instructions are about 50 years old, and so the policy as a whole was overdue for revision," says a Department of National Defence frequently asked questions page detailing the update."The appearance of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has not kept pace with the Canadian society which it serves." Many of the new liberties are conditional. Unnatural hair colour, for example, is allowed "unless it inhibits an operational duty," the DND page says. Read more on this story here.

Now for some good news to start your Wednesday: Jack Malott-Clarke, 13,  of London, Ont., has been a comic book fan his entire life. He loves dressing up as some of his favourite characters and attending annual Comic-Con events. But his world changed in 2019 when  he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a condition in which his body is unable to produce new blood cells and platelets. Jack's condition requires him to have a blood transfusion at least twice a week. "A lot of people don't donate blood or platelets because maybe they're scared, but you really should because it saves lives," he said. "It saved mine and many other kids' lives." This inspired Jack to combine his love for cosplay with his need for blood, and start a cosplay-themed social media campaign called Suit up for Jack, in which people can donate blood while dressed in costumes. The campaign has been re-created in four other countries. Read more here.

Opinion: Her political career died with Alberta floor-crossing. Meet Danielle Smith, resurrected

Believe it or not, the conservatives who hated Danielle Smith the most for crossing from Wildrose to Tories in 2014 are the very people who now love her the most, writes James Johnson. Read the column here.

First Person: My brother was my hero. I try to remember that even after his suicide

Patrick de Belen tries to sort through his complicated feelings of grief and love for his brother who died by suicide after a lengthy struggle with mental illness. Read his column here.

Front Burner: Canada's emergency rooms are in crisis

Health-care workers are calling attention to a crisis unfolding in Canadian emergency rooms. 

Staff shortages and a lack of hospital beds are causing long waits, shortened operating hours and even temporary ER closures across the country. Meanwhile, workers say more patients are coming in for problems neglected during the pandemic. 

Patients' stories are dramatic. Two weeks ago in Red Deer, Alta., a woman with abdominal pain said she waited six hours to get an ultrasound and was told to find her own way to another hospital to have her appendix removed. In May and June in St. John's, the wife of a man with Alzheimer's says he waited 20 nights in emergency before getting a hospital bed.

Today, a conversation with a veteran emergency physician about the new and long-standing factors stretching Canadian ERs to the limit. Dr. Brian Goldman is the host of CBC's White Coat, Black Art and the author of The Power of Teamwork.

Listen to today's episode.

Today in history: July 6

1885: French scientist Louis Pasteur tests an anti-rabies vaccine on a boy who had been bitten by an infected dog. After 13 injections over 10 days, the treatment was deemed a success as the boy didn't develop rabies.

1906: Canada's House of Commons passes the Lord's Day Act to prohibit work, entertainment, sport and almost all commerce on Sundays. The law remained on the books until the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down in 1985.

1923: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.

1928: In New York City, the first all-talking motion picture, the crime drama Lights of New York, opens.