A new, yet familiar, candidate will lead Vaughan’s Conservatives into the next federal election.

Richard Lorello was acclaimed the Conservative candidate for Vaughan after Richard Majkot — the only other challenger — withdrew his name from consideration hours before last week’s scheduled nomination meeting.

Party members were set to meet Friday night at Vellore Village Community Centre in Woodridge to choose between Lorello, a Kleinburg resident, and Majkot, an Orangeville resident and the riding’s last Conservative candidate.

“Mr. Lorello was acclaimed and the meeting was cancelled since there was an acclaimed candidate,” Ryan Sparrow, a Conservative Party spokesperson, said Monday from Ottawa.

He added he did not know why Majkot dropped out of the race.

According to a statement released Tuesday by the Conservative riding association, Majkot withdrew from the nomination contest Friday morning, Lorello was acclaimed that afternoon, and the evening’s scheduled meeting was cancelled.

“I am very thankful to everyone on the Vaughan Electoral District Association, who worked tirelessly and conducted themselves with honour and integrity throughout the process,” Lorello said in the riding association’s statement.

Lorello took a temporary leave of absence from his position as the second vice-president of the association during the nomination contest.

Lorello’s last run for public office came in the 2006 municipal election. He ran for a regional councillor position, finishing sixth in a field of nine.

Majkot came second to Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua in the 2006 general election, falling 20,000 votes short.

Vaughan Today
Online: January 31, 2008 [link]