OTTAWA—Allegations of dirty tricks are flying in the federal Conservative nomination race in Oakville North-Burlington, with just three days to go before the vote.

Chiropractor Natalia Lishchyna, who is challenging Mississauga MP Eve Adams for the Conservative nod in the new riding, issued a news release alleging Adams’ campaign engaged in “fraudulent campaign activity” in signing up five people as party members who say they never bought memberships.

Lishchyna’s news release says five people in the same household say they “did not pay for Conservative party memberships for the purposes of voting in the nomination to be held in Oakville North-Burlington, but that the five (5) memberships in question were paid for by the Eve Adams campaign.”

“If found to be the case, the sale of memberships in such a manner are in violation of Conservative Party of Canada and Elections Canada rules. Regardless of the payment issue these five individuals are supporters of the Liberal party and were told they only needed to be Conservatives in order to vote for Eve Adams and could quit after the nomination race.”

Lishchyna’s release went out just hours before a candidates’ forum was to start Wednesday evening.

In response, Adams’ campaign flatly denied any wrongdoing, saying once the family said they did not plan to pay or become members, it asked the party to strike them from the list, calling it an “administrative oversight which was immediately corrected once found.”

Dimitri Soudas, Adams’ partner and former executive director of the Conservative Party, in an email to the Star said: “This is a desperate campaign repeatedly trying to make untrue and unfounded allegations.”

Soudas countered with charges of his own against Lishchyna.

“We have filed complaints with both the CRTC and Elections Canada for harassing phone calls to party members from a telemarketing firm that refused to disclose its client and asked a series of political questions and badgered people on their knowledge of the principles of the Conservative party.”

“We had over 40 calls of complaints yesterday.”

Both Adams and Lishchyna were unavailable to be interviewed in advance of Wednesday’s evening candidates’ forum.

The national party’s spokesman Marc-André Leclerc said in an email to the Star: “We are conducting a fair and open nomination process. Any reasonable complaint or issue will be reviewed by the party.”

Lishchyna’s campaign released a copy of the emailed complaint written by the riding resident at the heart of the allegation to Conservative Party officials. Among others, it was apparently sent to party president John Walsh and secretary Michael Lauer, although they did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.

The email released by Lishchyna was edited to exclude information that identified the complainant.

Lishchyna campaign spokesman John Mykytyshyn said the individuals involved were reluctant to speak out publicly or be interviewed.

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Mykytyshyn said he and a lawyer had urged the family to relay their concerns to Conservative Party officials.

The race in the newly carved out Oakville riding has been marked by allegations that Adams and Soudas, formerly executive director of the party, unfairly used party resources in a bid to gain advantage in the race.

Members will cast ballots from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday at King’s Christian Collegiate in Oakville.

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