The federal Conservative Party’s incomprehensible decision to reject 30-year MLA Mike de Jong as a candidate looks like it is going to haunt them.

He sulked for a few weeks after he was cavalierly dismissed. But he’s a beer league hockey player from way back. He’s probably been cut from lots of teams before this.

So after the Conservatives punched him in the mouth, he put his helmet back on and signed up as an Independent. The buzz in the Fraser Valley is that he is doing well.

(Disclosure: I covered de Jong’s entire career in B.C. politics. In between policy criticism and occasional differences, we developed a friendly professional relationship.)

I do not care how he fares in the election. But the Conservative Party’s opaque, last-minute decision to dump him because he was “unqualified” ranks as one of the major blunders of this election campaign. It raises questions that go beyond de Jong’s career.

When a Conservative nomination opened in Abbotsford-South Langley last March, de Jong decided to finish his provincial BC Liberals-BC United career and run for it. He was a natural........

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