A Conservative candidate running for an empty federal riding seat said last night that he has been forced to withdraw his candidacy because of "ongoing friction" with the party's national council.Mark Warner is the second Tory to have his nomination pulled out from under him in as many weeks by the council.Mr. Warner said he was removed yesterday by the National Council of the Conservative Party of Canada's campaign manager, Doug Finley, and its president, Don Plett, for trying to tailor the party's message too strongly to the Toronto Centre riding."It seems to be that we have had ongoing friction over the extent to which I could talk about issues that were relevant to Toronto Centre, which is possibly the most diverse riding in the country," Mr. Warner, a lawyer, said last night. He insisted that he had stuck to party lines on issues such as immigration, housing and education during his campaign and had the support of the Toronto Centre riding association.
Meanwhile, Guelph businessman Brent Barr, who won the party's nomination in March, says he was told on Oct. 19 that party headquarters had rejected his nomination. He was first told that he had not done enough to raise the Conservative banner locally, and then that he ran a "less-than-mediocre" campaign in the 2006 election, he said."They kept on throwing things at us, they kept on saying we weren't doing enough and I kept on coming back with fairly strong positions that we had," he said last night.Mr. Barr appealed the decision, but it was ultimately rejected by the council last Friday.
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