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A campaigning Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford dismissed allegations Thursday that he was involved in selling bogus party memberships, and also denied trying to intimidate a would-be candidate.

Speaking at an event in a factory in a Tory stronghold in Tillsonburg, Ford attributed the accusations — based on an audio recording and affidavits — to a desperate attempt by the governing Liberals to hang on to office.

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Ford, who became party leader this year, said the two-year-old incidents at issue were put to a party appeal process at the time.

“The appeal was totally dismissed,” Ford said “This is the Liberals two weeks before an election trying to change the channel on their mismanagement, scandal and waste.”

The Liberals alleged that Ford tried to sign up people to vote for Kinga Surma, a former staffer in his late brother Rob Ford’s administration at Toronto city hall, who was running for a Tory nomination. According to the Liberals, Ford told the potential supporters they didn’t have to pay for a party membership — a violation of party rules.

The Liberals provided an affidavit from the woman running against Surma for the Etobicoke-Centre nomination in which she says she encountered several people on the membership list who maintained they had not signed any forms or paid any fees.