Deceitful. Underhanded. Dishonourable. Unscrupulous. Improper. Undemocratic.

Those were the words used by Coun. Mark King as he described his disappointment with the Conservative Party of Canada for rescinding his nomination in the federal riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday morning at his business on Mattawa Street, H Freeman & Co., King said it was imperative for him to tell his story about what took place over the last three months, a period of time he described to reporters as “excruciating.”

“I can tell you that I honestly won the nomination, it was done in a fair and equal process, I never, nor did any of my team, ever do anything at all to circumvent the process and this is what is so (disconcerting), when we look at how our communities operate and what democracy looks like — and this is the sad part of what’s transpired with a mainstream federal party,” he said.

The North Bay city councillor and chairman of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board won the Conservative Party nomination in Nipissing-Timiskaming last month over Callander Coun. Jordy Carr.

Despite being “extensively vetted,” King says he received notice in late June that his nomination had been successfully appealed and he would be given 24 hours to challenge the ruling.

King says he did respond, but learned more than a week ago that the party upheld the original appeal.

Carr has since been named the Conservative candidate for the riding, but King says he will not support her candidacy or the party moving forward.

In trying to devise a possible reason for his disqualification, King revealed that a dispute arose over memberships that were allegedly purchased with a corporate credit card.

He says the party’s regional organizer Bill Greenberg told him he wouldn’t be allowed to vote because of this. However, King voted anyway and says he received around 107 of the nearly 200 votes tallied.

He also tried to explain to the party, with the help of a lawyer and bank documents, that a business card under his name was used to buy memberships for himself, his wife, daughter and mother-in-law, which he says is allowed.

But King was unable to say whether that was the specific reason his nomination was revoked, adding that no one from either the party or the riding association has pointed to it as the issue.

“Our feeling is that this was just an excuse, that there was something much deeper involved in the process from a federal standpoint.”

When asked for comment, the Conservative Party’s director of communications Cory Hann provided the same statement to The Nugget from Wednesday saying “the rules were equally applied to all candidates, and all candidates followed the rules to ensure an even playing field.”

He said a decision to disallow a nominee is never taken lightly by the party and that the reasons for doing so are not provided, as per standard practice.

King has also made a point of highlighting Carr’s familial relationship to former Ontario Premier Mike Harris, as well as his endorsement of her campaign.

Carr told The Nugget that while her her aunt was previously married to the former premier, the two have been divorced for 20 years.

Carr also denied any involvement in King’s nomination being appealed.

“I don’t want to get involved in his machinations,” she said. “I wasn’t privy to the information between him and the party, so that’s between him and the party, and I can’t really make comment on that.”

King has yet to decide if he will try to run under a different political banner, but says he plans to cancel his membership with the Conservative Party.

As for what this all means for sitting Liberal MP Anthony Rota, King responded: “I’m going to congratulate him right now.”