A Quebec Tory politician who recently said being gay was a choice has been blocked from running for the Conservative party leadership..Richard Décarie had met all the first requirements to run but his name wasn’t on the final list of candidates released by the party on Saturday..In a recent speech he said the party should return to supporting only marriage between a man and a woman and said being gay was a “choice”, not something you are born as. He also said the government should no longer fund abortion services..The Conservative party’s leadership nomination committee interviewed Décarie late this week, which indicates he had fulfilled everything else needed to enter the race, including a $25,000 fee and 1,000 signatures from party members,” the National Post reported Saturday..To stay on until the final ballot, he would have needed to pay a further $275,000 and collect 2,000 more signatures by March 25..Conservative officials refused to say Saturday why Décarie wasn’t on the final list..Décarie was chief of staff for Stephen Harper when he was leader of the Opposition..The list of eight candidates approved to run are:.Marilyn Gladu.Rudy Husny.Jim Karahalios.Leslyn Lewis.Peter MacKay.Erin O’Toole.Rick Peterson.Derek Sloan.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: Nobby7694
