2 Conservative candidate hopefuls in Waterloo say they were cast aside for an out-of-towner

"Welcome to my campaign office," Val Neekman says as he opens the trunk of his car.

Lawn signs and boxes of pamphlets crowd the back of the Waterloo resident's Acura. It's a far cry from the headquarters he would have been working out of if he were that city's Conservative candidate — something he had hoped would happen.

"I'm a one-man army now," the independent candidate said.

Neekman, alongside Waterloo city Coun. Hans Roach, are two community members who say they were caught off guard by the Conservative Party's decision to appoint a parachute candidate, or someone from outside the community, as the person who would run for Waterloo's seat in the 2025 federal election.

Now, both Neekman and Roach are running as independents, and speaking out about what they call unfair treatment by the party.

They both told CBC News they had started vying for the Conservative nomination in Waterloo since last year, but later learned, the party appointed Mississauga-based real estate agent Waseem Botros, a candidate neither of them knew.

Roach is currently a Waterloo city councillor and a former Catholic school board trustee. Until 2020, he also served as president of the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association.

Neekman, until recently, was the president of Waterloo's Conservative Electoral District Association, until he stepped down specifically to chase the candidate nomination for the party.

Both men said in interviews that they had been in regular contact with party officials, believed they were in contention to become the candidate, and expected a nomination race involving a few other local runners.

Then, communication between the party and the two men went cold and Roach says a nomination contest never happened.

"The Conservative Party cancelled that and just appointed someone. They parachuted a gentleman in from Mississauga … who has absolutely no connection to Waterloo," he said.

Neekman said he found out the day Liberal Leader Mark Carney called the election. He was at a lunch with his family to celebrate his birthday. 

"I said, 'Guys, let's rush back because Carney is going to call it,'" he said.

Neekman said it was about half an hour later when, "I got an email like everybody else: 'Welcome your Waterloo candidate, Waseem Botros.'"