Nick Kouvalis resigns as Kellie Leitch’s campaign manager

Nick Kouvalis is resigning as campaign manager for Kellie Leitch’s bid for the Conservative Party leadership.

“It has become clear that I have become a distraction to the campaign,” Kouvalis said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

READ MORE: Kellie Leitch firm on screening immigrants for ‘Canadian values’ in wake of Quebec shooting

“When a member of a campaign team becomes the focus of media coverage, the time comes to resign.”

Kouvalis’ resignation comes five days after he engaged in a tense exchange with University of Waterloo professor Emmett Macfarlane, in which he called the academic a “cuck.”

“Cuck,” short for “cuckservative,” is a term often used by members of the alt-right movement to describe conservatives who allegedly sell out to appeal to people who would otherwise be hostile to them, according to UrbanDictionary.com.

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The exchange began when iPolitics executive editor Stephen Maher tweeted that there had been no comment from three Conservative Party leadership candidates, including Leitch, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Macfarlane then tweeted, “Well, if her track record so far is any indication, @KellieLeitch is working on an announcement to imitate it.”

Kouvalis responded by saying, “that’s not fair.” And a few other things.

Macfarlane then accused Kouvalis of running an “atrocious campaign” in which he was “mimicking Trumpisms.”

Then, Kouvalis called him a cuck.

Kouvalis issued an apologetic tweet two days later.

Kouvalis, who previously oversaw Rob Ford’s successful mayoral campaign in 2010, was managing a controversial leadership bid in which Leitch had made a “Canadian values” screening for immigrants a key plank of her platform.

The idea has led to her being described as “Canada’s answer to Donald Trump.” Leitch herself has shown admiration for Trump’s ability to appeal to ordinary voters.

And she didn’t back down from her “Canadian values” screening idea after a French-Canadian was arrested and charged in connection with the shooting deaths of six people at a Quebec City mosque last Sunday.