And then there were five.
Elections Canada posted the official listing for candidates in all 338 ridings Wednesday morning (Oct. 2), and there was one noticeable absence in the Courtenay-Alberni riding.
Listed as running on the elections.ca website are: Barbara Biley (Marxist-Leninist), Jonah Gowans (Liberal), Byron Horner (Conservative), Gord Johns (NDP) and Sean Wood (Green).
Missing from that list is Troy Whitley, of the People’s Party of Canada.
Whitley was also absent from an all-candidates forum in Parkville Monday night.
RELATED: Courtenay-Alberni candidates answer questions in Parksville
On Wednesday afternoon, Whitley made it official, with the following posting on his website page:
“The campaign for Troy for MP has officially ended and would like to thank the loyal supporters of the People’s Party of Canada for their encouragement.
“Our team has spoken with many of you over the last several months about the People’s Party of Canada’s goals and we took your feedback and suggestions to heart. Many of you communicated to us your concerns about a new, upstart party becoming a real force for opposition this election and even told us that you planned to instead employ strategic voting, no matter how compelling our message was. Unfortunately that is why our campaign has come to an end.
“Simply put, there was no cohesion between the supporters of the PPC in Comox—Alberni (sic), which left us with multiple incarnations of the EDA, donation accounts not being set up, and people being unwilling to collect or even provide signatures. Even the party’s HQ had difficulty in securing local support in keeping our campaign afloat.
“Some of you have had questions on the impact the very visible divide between a group identifying itself as our EDA, and our true EDA, had on our campaign. We will not comment on these matters. It has always been our policy not to engage with antagonists or trolls.
“We wish the best of luck to our co-candidates throughout the province and across the nation. We appreciate the candor and honesty in many of the things you told us and we certainly believe that the PPC has a future in this country, even if there are many who do not share those beliefs.
“It is our sincere hope that our country continues to grow and to prosper. We hope to be a part of that prosperity in the future.”
The PPC has had a few candidate issues, including a resignation that made national headlines on Monday.
Chad Hudson, who was running for the PPC in the Nova Scotia riding of West Nova, pulled out of the race on Sept. 30 via Twitter citing differences in philosophy with the party leader, Maxime Bernier.
On Vancouver Island, the original candidate for the North Island-Powell River riding – Peter Marcin – resigned in July, less than two months after being nominated, citing a lack of support for the party in the riding.
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