Liberal Party of Canada has cut ties with its candidate in the Calgary Confederation riding after it emerged he did not disclose a stayed domestic assault charge from 2005.
Party officials confirmed to CBC News on Friday that the 49-year-old real estate broker Thomas Keeper is “no longer a candidate” due to the failure to reveal the assault charge.
Court records show Keeper was charged with common assault on June 6, 2005, with the complainant listed as his former wife.
The charge was stayed on July 20, 2005, roughly six weeks after it was laid.
The Liberals say Keeper’s omission left them with no choice but to remove him from the race.
The party declined to comment on whether it will nominate a new candidate before the spring election, leaving the future of the Calgary Confederation ballot uncertain.
This riding has attracted greater attention since Conservative MP Len Webber announced he would not seek re-election.
Jeremy Nixon, a former UCP MLA in Calgary-Klein, has stepped in as the Conservative candidate, while Keira Gunn is running for the NDP.
In addition to the stayed charge, Keeper faces a series of troubling allegations from former friends and associates, who claim he demonstrated unwanted sexual behaviour and physical aggression toward his spouse.
At least two individuals, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Juno News that Keeper bragged about forcing his wife to engage in unwanted intimacy.
Others described the real estate broker’s conduct as “bizarre” and “psychopathic.”
Multiple realtors in the Calgary area told the Western Standard that he also engaged in verbal attacks and harassment in their business dealings with him.
Voters in the riding will be watching closely to see which candidate the Liberals will put forward in time for the federal election and whether the party can weather the damage left in the wake of Keeper’s removal.