Reporters on the campaign trail were left scratching their heads February 7 after a press conference at a Pentecostal church. Pastor Ron Leech of East Side City Church says he won the Conservative nomination for the riding of Calgary-Montrose after incumbent Hung Pham resigned last month. However, the party rejected Leech’s nomination and instead appointed 27-year-old law student Manmeet Bhullar as its candidate. At the press conference, Leech said he wanted Conservative leader Ed Stelmach to meet with him and explain what happened.
What confused reporters was a fire-and-brimstone news release they’d received from Concerned Christians Canada (CCC) the day prior. In the release, the CCC accused Ed Stelmach and the Conservatives of purging evangelical Christians from the party — first Calgary-Egmont candidate Craig Chandler, and now Leech. “The Christophobia we are seeing in the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party is appalling and reflective of wartime Germany,” said CCC chairman Jim Blake in the news release. The release also said the CCC would file a human rights complaint against the Conservatives, and indicated that both Leech and Blake would be at the news conference.
However, Blake never showed up. Furthermore, Leech and his staff said they never learned about the CCC news release until mere minutes before reporters showed up. “I have nothing to do with that,” said Leech, who later announced he will run as an independent. “I honour those whom God places in leadership…. I want to meet with [Stelmach] and have him do what is right.” Phone messages left on Blake’s voice mail weren’t returned by press time.
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