The B.C. Conservative Party has stumbled through the first fortnight of the campaign, during which four candidates have had their party affiliation revoked. Party leader John Cummins announced the senior volunteer responsible for vetting the candidates has himself been replaced.

After cutting off the four, the Conservatives are now fielding 56 candidates in 85 seats. They would have had more recognized on the ballot, but the party messed up the paperwork for a handful of candidates.

Parties are responsible for identifying a slate of candidates. They do so by submitting a document titled, "Endorsement of Candidate(s) by Registered Political Party," known as form 324A. The Conservatives' form did not list Bill Clarke. It also missed Christine N. Clarke (Burnaby-Lougheed), Wayne Marklund (Burnaby North), and Manuel (Mike) Pratas (Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows). All those candidates are on the ballot, but have no affiliation listed beside their name.

One of the Conservatives who will appear on the ballot without a party affiliation, Bill Clarke, is a 79-year-old retired chartered accountant. He is running in tony Vancouver-Quilchena, a west-side riding part of which he represented in Ottawa as a Progressive Conservative member of Parliament for 12 years.

The party's online biography of Clarke correctly notes his four victories at the federal polls from 1972 to 1980, as well as his loss in 1984 to Liberal prime minister John Turner. This is described as "his only loss." Alas for Clarke, he also failed in attempts to win back Vancouver Quadra in 1988 and 2000.

Clarke is by far one of the ablest of the Conservatives stable of candidates, many of them political neophytes. His online campaign page features a photograph of him meeting Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. He's going to need divine intervention to win Vancouver-Quilchena, one of the wealthiest seats in the province and one of the safest for the BC Liberals.

Tom Hawthorn is part of The Tyee's B.C. election 2013 reporting team.