Liberal, Conservative parties lose candidates over controversies

OTTAWA — Controversial statements from the past came back to haunt two major parties on the federal election trail this week with the Liberals losing one candidate and Conservatives saying goodbye to two. Liberal incumbent Paul Chiang bowed out of the campaign late Monday after suggesting that another candidate could be turned over to Chinese officials in exchange for a bounty, while the Conservatives dropped a nominee who joked that former prime minister Justin Trudeau should be executed, and another whose online posts included claims that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was provoked by the expansion of NATO. Stefan Marquis, who…