An Indian-Canadian Sikh candidate for this month's parliamentary elections has been dumped by his ruling Conservative Party after he claimed that homosexuality was an "unnatural behaviour" and defended therapies that attempt to "cure" gays into straight people.
"These comments do not reflect the views of the Conservative Party of Canada. We believe that all Canadians - regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation - deserve to be treated with respect and dignity," the Conservative Party said in a statement.
"Mr Grewal is no longer an official candidate for the Conservative Party."
Jagdish Grewal, who was to run from the Toronto suburban constituency of Mississauga-Malton for parliament elections on October 19, wrote an editorial in the Punjabi Post earlier this year entitled "Is it wrong for a homosexual to become a normal person?" CBC News reported citing the Canadian Press.
The editorial referred to homosexuality as "unnatural behaviour" and heterosexuals as "normal."
Grewal wrote in the piece that some psychologists blame a "shock" during childhood for causing a person to become gay, but that the change "can be corrected."
He said in an interview yesterday that he was attempting to educate readers about an issue in the news and lay out the positions taken by the provincial parties and psychologists, the report said.
Homosexuality was legalised in Canada in 2004.
