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It was just a few weeks ago that Patrick Brown, then leader of the resurgent Ontario Conservatives, made the announcement: the Tories had recruited an impressive 200,000 paid members.

The number dwarfed that of the governing Liberals, and was more “than we’ve ever had before,” Brown boasted at the time.

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With Brown gone, his successor says the figure is actually far less — under 130,000 — and a party insider made a surprising admission about the discrepancy Monday, blaming it on creative exaggeration.

“The membership number was likely inflated for communications purposes,” said the official, not authorized to speak on the record about the topic. “We’re not going to defend the actions of the previous administration … Now people have the facts.”

The revised Conservative statistic was divulged over the weekend in a memo from Vic Fedeli, who took over as the Tories’ interim leader following Brown’s sudden resignation last week. Fedeli has pledged to carve away “rot” within the party, and singled out the membership list as a particular focus.