A third Conservative Party candidate was removed from its roster of those running in the upcoming federal election late Tuesday evening, hours after two other candidates had been ousted.
Lourence Singh, the party’s nominee for the British Columbia riding of New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville, was scrubbed from the party’s list of candidates while his own campaign website now redirects to the riding’s donation page on the Conservative website.
Singh’s Instagram page for his campaign also says it cannot be loaded, though his Facebook remains active with his most recent post made Tuesday morning, resharing a union endorsement for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
“Mr. Lourence Singh will not be a candidate for the Conservative Party,” a spokesperson for the Conservatives told Global News in an email. The spokesperson did not provide a reason for the removal.
When he was named as the party’s candidate in January, Singh said in a Facebook post that he was honoured to join the team.
“It’s time to shift this riding from orange to blue, bringing common sense leadership and a fresh perspective to Ottawa,” he wrote.
The B.C. resident was running in a district that has historically voted NDP since its creation in 2013, with the Conservatives coming in third place in the past three votes.
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Long-time NDP MP Peter Julian is running for re-election.
Singh’s removal was the third for the Conservatives within 24 hours, the party having removed two other candidates in Ontario and Quebec for recent comments and social media posts, respectively.
On Tuesday morning, the party announced Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore candidate Mark McKenzie was removed for comments he made in a 2022 comedy podcast suggesting then-prime minister Justin Trudeau should face the death penalty.
McKenzie said in an interview with Global News that his remarks were “all a joke” and he regrets making them. In that same podcast, McKenzie had voiced support for public hangings as well.
The city councillor in Windsor, Ont., said his comments were taken out of context, adding that he doesn’t stand by them.
Later in the day, Laurier–Sainte-Marie candidate Stefan Marquis announced in a post on X that he was no longer the party’s nominee.
“I was told without further note that ‘certain’ individuals within the party had consulted my recent posts on Twitter-X and deemed these sufficient reason to end our political collaboration,” Marquis wrote.
The now-former Conservative candidate also criticized the party, saying his opinion was not respected.
“Publish a non-vetted tweet on X and expect ostracization from your natural ally,” he wrote. “This now appears to be the way of Canadian politics.”
The removal of three Conservative candidates came a day after another federal nominee, Liberal Paul Chiang, announced he was stepping down as the candidate in the Markham-Unionville riding following comments he made in January that Conservative Joe Tay should be turned over to Chinese officials in return for a bounty.
Carney had said prior to that decision that the remarks were “deeply offensive” but that Chiang “has my confidence.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh remarked on Tuesday about the controversies surrounding both the Liberals and Conservatives and said, so far, his party has not had any similar circumstances.
“If things arise, though, we will make the best decision for our country, for our democracy, and so we’ll be prepared to do that,” Singh said.
— With files from Global News’ Saba Aziz
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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