Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

The campaign for Patrick Brown said it was consulting its legal team after the leadership election organizing committee of the federal Conservatives voted to disqualify him from the race late Tuesday. 

Ian Brodie, the chair of the committee, announced the stunning move in a written statement after a meeting to discuss the matter.

He said the party had recently become aware of "serious allegations of wrongdoing" by the Brown campaign.

The allegations are related to the financing rules in the Canada Elections Act, Brodie said, but provided no further details.

Michelle Rempel Garner, a longtime Conservative MP from Calgary, says she's stepping back from the federal Conservative leadership race to consider running for Jason Kenney's job. 

Rempel Garner was serving as co-chair on Patrick Brown's leadership campaign when Kenney stunned many last month by announcing he was resigning as premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party after narrowly surviving a leadership review. 

Rempel Garner's name soon started to circulate as a potential successor to Kenney.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday Pope Francis's upcoming trip to Canada remains unchanged at the moment, but the pontiff's health is an "extreme concern."

Miller's comments come after the Vatican announced last week the 85-year-old Pope would reschedule an upcoming trip to Africa to avoid interrupting therapy he is undergoing for his knee. 

Candidates vying for the Conservative leadership framed the country — and the party — as deeply divided at the first official debate on Wednesday, and took turns pointing fingers at one rival they accuse of driving disunity in the race. 

The loudest applause in the Edmonton Convention Centre, packed with more than 1,000 people, repeatedly went to longtime MP Pierre Poilievre, who said his vision for the country is about giving people “freedom to take back control of their lives."