Doug Ford has fired Tanya Granic Allen as the Progressive Conservative candidate in Mississauga Centre in the June 7 election after the Liberals revealed a video of her making homophobic remarks.

The PC leader, who repeatedly rejected calls to dump Granic Allen after the Star reported her anti-Muslim and anti-gay posts on social media a month ago, changed his mind Saturday.

The announcement of her removal came in a statement from Ford, just hours after a 2014 video of Granic Allen criticizing gay marriage resurfaced on Saturday in a news release issued by the Liberal party.

“We are a party comprised of people with diverse views that if expressed responsibly we would respect. However, the fact is her characterization of certain issues and people has been irresponsible,” Ford said in the statement. “Our party remains focused on defeating Kathleen Wynne and bringing relief to families across Ontario.”

Ford named Natalia Kusendova, the former runner-up for Mississauga Centre, as the new candidate to replace Granic Allen. In a Twitter post, Kusendova, a nurse, said she was honoured and vowed to work with Ford and “bring relief” to Ontario families, seniors and patients.

In a statement posted to her Twitter page, Granic Allen said she was “disappointed” that she was no longer a candidate and will “have more to say” about the decision and Ontario politics in the near future.

In 2014 speech at the Croatian-Catholic Youth weekend conference in Norval, Ont., posted to YouTube and distributed by the Liberals, Granic Allen said, “You know, now what I hear about Hrvatska (Croatia) trying to push radical sexual education on the young or gay marriage you know I almost vomit in disbelief.

“Just 20 years ago we were liberated from this communism but now we are embracing these lack of values, these lack of ideals.”

Granic Allen came under scrutiny last month for comments posted on social media, first revealed by the Star, comparing women in burkas to “bank robbers” and questioning gay marriage. She was officially nominated for Mississauga Centre almost two weeks after the Star’s story, and publicly congratulated by Ford in a post on Twitter.

Ford had attempted to distance himself from her last month after those social media posts, despite having previously courted her social conservative backers during the leadership race.

“The Ontario PC Party is an inclusive party. These statements are not reflective of what we stand for or how we will govern this province,” he said in a statement after the story was published on April 9. “Our base is growing, and we want all Ontarians to feel like they have a place in our party.”

As a PC leadership candidate, Granic Allen had campaigned to repeal the Liberals’ modernized sex-ed curriculum. Ford also promised to reconsider the curriculum and mused about requiring teens to get parental permission for abortion, issues seen as important to Granic Allen’s base.

But conservative sources, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters, told the Star that Granic Allen was increasingly viewed as a liability.

In fact, the situation had escalated to the point that some Tories loyal to former PC leader Patrick Brown, who had worked closely with Ontario’s Muslim communities, were quietly helping Liberal candidate Bobbie Daid in Mississauga Centre.

“They didn’t want to see Tanya win there,” said one longtime Tory, referring to the Brown supporters backing Daid. “But I guess Doug felt he owed her from the leadership.”

LGBTory Canada, a conservative gay rights advocacy group, supported her removal as a candidate.

“She has a history of making these statements, and it hasn’t been a secret,” said LGBTory spokesperson Eric Lorenzen. “We wish that the party had vetted her more carefully.”

Lorenzen said his group is also concerned about any attempts to roll back the “common sense revisions” in sex-ed curriculum reforms.

Shelley Carroll, the Liberal candidate for Don Valley North, said Saturday’s “shocking” move underscores the fact that Ford’s platform and values are unclear.

This week, Ford made another drastic policy change by retreating from his controversial scheme to open up the Greenbelt’s protected land to housing development.

Ford’s policy U-turn came as PC candidates confided they were taking heat from voters over his Feb. 12 video, unveiled by the Liberals on Monday, where he dismissed the Greenbelt as “just farmer fields.”

Carroll said Saturday’s move is another example of the rookie PC leader reversing his decisions “when pushed.”

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“What surprises me is the fact that she was dropped so quickly means that Doug Ford was willing to use Ms. Granic Allen to attract certain voters to his leadership campaign,” she said.

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With files from Rob Ferguson

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