Mar dismisses allegations of illegal membership sales

Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Gary Mar said his campaign volunteers did nothing wrong by selling party memberships within 50 metres of an Edmonton polling station.

On Tuesday, CBC cameras caught Mar supporters selling memberships outside the advance poll at the Ramada Kingsway hotel after the campaign bussed in dozens of Chinese seniors for the vote.

Memberships obtained at polling stations can only be purchased from party officials; party rules prohibit sales by campaign workers.

But Mar said his supporters were only trying to help people who can't speak English.

"Within the polling station, the advance polling station, you could buy a membership from the party," Mar said. "Except that there's no one at the party table that speaks three different dialects of Chinese."

As for busing the seniors, Mar said his campaign was only ensuring that people with mobility issues were able to vote.

"If it means giving people a ride, whether it be in a bus, or in a van, or in a car; it matters not," he said. "The idea is that we want people to be able to exercise their right to vote. So I'm not apologizing for that at all."

Results of the first ballot will be announced on Saturday. If none of the candidates is able to win more than 50 per cent of the vote, a second ballot with the top three finishers will be held Oct. 1.