 In Bow River, Schumacher was challenged for the nomination by former Socred Gordon Taylor and lost in a controversial meeting in which Schumacher's supporters alleged that people who were not bona fide members of the party voted.Schumacher's former assistant, John Aimers, resigned from the party in January 1978 in protest, accusing the national executive engineering Schumacher's defeat.On February 28, 1978 Schumacher left the party and sat as an independent.