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The executive director of the Conservative Party has been told he cannot stay in his role by the board of the Conservative Party Fund, sources tell Global News.

This comes a day after Dustin van Vugt ​took responsibility for approving the use of party funds to pay for the private schooling of Andrew Scheer’s children.

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The Conservative Party is also now bringing in a forensic auditor to review spending arrangements by the Conservative Fund.

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After Global News reported that van Vugt had been fired from his post as executive director, sources said that there’s a fight brewing within the party over whether the Fund’s board actually has the authority to fire him. Sources say the Conservative Party constitution is unclear on the matter.

Sources loyal to Scheer and van Vugt say the Fund cannot terminate his employment under the rules set out in the party constitution. They can refuse to pay him, however.

As Global News was the first to report on Thursday, Scheer resigned after news erupted within the party earlier this week that he had been getting reimbursed by donor money to pay for the cost of putting four of his five children in private school.

READ MORE: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer resigns, vows to stay on until new leader chosen

The fifth is not yet school-age.

Van Vugt said on Thursday in a statement that he had approved the use of party funds to reimburse Scheer for the cost of his children’s private schooling.

He said it was only a reimbursement of the difference between the cost of their schooling in Regina versus Ottawa.

But multiple Conservative sources told Global News that members of the Conservative Fund did not know about the arrangement and were furious to learn of it earlier this week, with many also worried about how the deal would look to voters.

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