OTTAWA — The Conservative party has been ordered to pay up to $50,000 to a former candidate who agreed to step aside for a star recruit in the last election.

A judge has ruled that the party had no right to renege on agreement struck with Alan Riddell, who stepped aside as the candidate in Ottawa South so that Allan Cutler, the bureaucrat who blew the whistle on the sponsorship scandal, could carry the party banner in the riding.

The party had argued that the agreement was void because Riddell broke a confidentiality clause, telling the media the party had agreed to pay him up to $50,000 to cover expenses he'd incurred in running for the nomination.

The judge couldn't determine whether a confidentiality clause did actually exist but ruled that, even if it did, the party still had to honour the agreement.

He ordered an arbitrator to settle the dispute over precisely how much compensation Riddell is owed.