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“That was the final straw, shall we say,” Rawlins said. “We couldn’t even name our own nomination date. We had to wait for (the party) to advise us and they kept putting it off.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years of being involved,” she added. “Why even bother having an association?”

McAllister did not respond to the Herald’s request for an interview.

Lall, who ran for the PCs in Calgary-Buffalo in 2012, maintains he was never given an official explanation for his disqualification and is now running as an Independent in the riding.

“What’s done is done,” he said Monday. “I just want to focus on the fact that we’ve got a campaign … and for the sake of my team, for morale, we’re just trying to keep it positive as we can.”

Kelley Charlebois, executive director for the PC party, downplayed the significance of the recent resignations, saying two of the three are now volunteering on other PC campaigns and the third, Rawlins, left due to health reasons.

“We’ve got a great candidate in Chestermere … and we’re looking forward to getting him re-elected,” Charlebois said.

He maintained the PC had a valid reason to disqualify Lall, but would not provide further details.

While Fitzsimmons is now campaigning for PC candidates Peter Brown in Airdrie and Richard Godfried in Calgary-Fish Creek, he also lamented how the nomination in Chestermere-Rocky View unfolded.

“(McAllister) being acclaimed two days before the (election) I don’t think helped out anybody,” Fitzsimmons said. “I wish we would have had a nomination. I wish we would have had candidates, and Bruce had won it that way.”