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TORONTO — The Conservatives organized their biggest rally of the federal election campaign Friday, attempting to end a difficult week for Leader Andrew Scheer with a show of force.

But the hoped-for massive crowd didn’t materialize and, no sooner had the rally ended, than the party had to dish up more bad news: It has dropped Heather Leung as its candidate in the British Columbia riding of Burnaby North-Seymour for homophobic comments, including describing LGBTQ Canadians as “perverted.”

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Giving Leung the boot means the Conservatives will be one short of a full roster of 338 candidates. The deadline for registering candidates passed last Monday.

In an email earlier Friday to local candidates, a regional campaign manager was blunt about the need to fill a large barn at a reconstructed pioneer village in Northwest Toronto for a rally that evening.

“All campaigns are to pull your people off the doors, yes I actually said pull your people off the doors, and have them … come to this event,” wrote Georganne Burke, referring to shifting volunteers away from knocking on voters’ doors.