2 Conservative candidate hopefuls in Waterloo say they were cast aside for an out-of-towner
Hans Roach and Val Neekman are now running as independents
"Welcome to my campaign office," Val Neekman says as he opens the trunk of his car.
Lawn signs and boxes of pamphlets crowd the back of the Waterloo resident's Acura. It's a far cry from the headquarters he would have been working out of if he were that city's Conservative candidate — something he had hoped would happen.
"I'm a one-man army now," the independent candidate said.
Neekman, alongside Waterloo city Coun. Hans Roach, are two community members who say they were caught off guard by the Conservative Party's decision to appoint a parachute candidate, or someone from outside the community, as the person who would run for Waterloo's seat in the 2025 federal election.
Now, both Neekman and Roach are running as independents, and speaking out about what they call unfair treatment by the party.
They both told CBC News they had started vying for the Conservative nomination in Waterloo since last year, but later learned, the party appointed Mississauga-based real estate agent Waseem Botros, a candidate neither of them knew.
The independents
Roach is currently a Waterloo city councillor and a former Catholic school board trustee. Until 2020, he also served as president of the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association.
Neekman, until recently, was the president of Waterloo's Conservative Electoral District Association, until he stepped down specifically to chase the candidate nomination for the party.
Both men said in interviews that they had been in regular contact with party officials, believed they were in contention to become the candidate, and expected a nomination race involving a few other local runners.
Then, communication between the party and the two men went cold and Roach says a nomination contest never happened.
"The Conservative Party cancelled that and just appointed someone. They parachuted a gentleman in from Mississauga … who has absolutely no connection to Waterloo," he said.
Neekman said he found out the day Liberal Leader Mark Carney called the election. He was at a lunch with his family to celebrate his birthday.
"I said, 'Guys, let's rush back because Carney is going to call it,'" he said.
Neekman said it was about half an hour later when, "I got an email like everybody else: 'Welcome your Waterloo candidate, Waseem Botros.'"
"I wish they called me for like five minutes, a personal call," said Neekman.
Instead, the call came an hour later.
"But I didn't pick it up, because I didn't need to."
The parachute
Despite being the Conservative Party's official candidate in Waterloo, not much is publicly known about Botros. His online presence is limited, and there's little evidence that he's spent much time in the region.
CBC News reached out to Botros and his campaign team but did not receive a response.
However, what can be found about Botros online is that he owns two businesses he runs out of Etobicoke, and also works in real estate in Mississauga.
As for his Waterloo connection, Botros' campaign website mentions his involvement with the Coptic Christian community, including efforts to support incoming students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
But for Neekman, that connection isn't enough.
"If I cannot feel your pain, if I cannot put myself in your shoes in Waterloo, how am I going to represent you?" he said.
Why parachute a candidate into Waterloo?
Julie Simmons is a political science professor at the University of Guelph. She said parachute candidates are typically brought in for specific reasons.
She said it could be because it's a high-profile person the party wants in cabinet if they formed government, adding that "if the riding is a safe riding for that political party, then they would want to ensure that person was elected."
That doesn't appear to be the case in this situation. Instead, Simmons said nominating Botros could backfire.
"It's perceived by the voters locally as contrary to the spirit of democracy," she said. "They themselves, or the people who are active within that party locally, were not part of the process of selecting the candidate."
Simmons said without that community-level connection, "one might question [the candidate's] ability to engage in the same way with voters in between elections and connect with them about the decisions that they're making at the federal level."
To Roach, he believes the party may be giving up that seat.
"It almost seemed to me like they were conceding this election to the incumbent," he said.
Could this change the race for Waterloo's seat?
There are seven candidates running in Waterloo in this election:
- Waseem Botros for the Conservatives.
- Bardish Chagger is the incumbent for the Liberals.
- Héline Chow for the NDP.
- Santa Claus Chatham is with the Rhinocéros Party.
- Simon Guthrie for the Green Party.
- Jamie Hari, Independent.
- Val Neekman, Independent.
- Hans Roach, Independent.
- Douglas Ross, People's Party of Canada.
Simmons says having a parachute candidate for the Conservatives is not likely to have a big impact on the race.
"The reality is that most Canadians are voting for a political party when they choose to cast their vote and might or might not be aware of the name of the candidate," she said.
What's more, Waterloo has been a Liberal seat for the past decade, held by Chagger who is also a former cabinet minister.
Still, Neekman and Roach both think they have a chance in the race as independents. They also say they're not worried about splitting the vote.
Roach called himself a "red Tory," adding he's "not really concerned about taking the vote away from the Conservatives or the Liberals."
"People, I think, are waking up to the idea that parties don't have a monopoly on good ideas," said Roach.
Neekman said he, too, could see votes coming from both sides.
"I'm old enough, hopefully wise enough, to know how to conserve … I'm still young enough and foolish enough to believe in change and progress," he said.
"My heart is liberal. My mind is conservative."
Though neither Roach nor Neekman have the backing of a major party, they both say they're motivated to win.
"I'm running because I care about the community," Roach said. "I'm shaking up the status quo, and I'm not beholden to party politics or donors or policies."
Neekman echoed that sentiment, adding he feels a responsibility to the people who encouraged him to step up.
As for his relationship with the Conservatives, Neekman said, "the request was very simple: 'Please kindly cancel my membership effective immediately.'"
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