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VICTORIA — Councillors in Nanaimo, B.C., are fending off a storm of criticism after they pulled the plug on a leadership telecast at the town’s convention centre because its sponsor was linked to anti-gay-marriage activism in the U.S.

“I’ve received many emails from people who were planning on investing here or visiting here, and now want nothing to do with us,” said Bill McKay, the only Nanaimo councillor to have voted against the cancellation, which has become a cause célèbre on religious blogs and on Wednesday led to a ‘‘civil liberties’’ demonstration in the city.

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“It could take us years to climb out of this hole.”

On May 9, Nanaimo’s city-owned Vancouver Island Convention Centre had been scheduled to host Leadercast, a telecast of an Atlanta leadership conference featuring speeches from South African anti-Apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, Canadian-born writer Malcolm Gladwell and former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, among others.