The Shotgun Blog
« B.C. Supreme Court strikes down gag law | Main | Frank Klees to enter the PCPO leadership race »
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Calgary West Tory MP Rob Anders loses key battle in nomination fight
Long-time Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders is facing a nomination challenge from Donna Kennedy-Glans.
CALGARY — Even with no federal election in sight, an outspoken and controversial member of Parliament is being challenged within his own party in his own riding.
On Saturday, more than 600 people stood outside for as long as 90 minutes to get into the annual general meeting of the Calgary West Conservative party.
MP Rob Anders has won the riding five times but corporate lawyer Donna Kennedy-Glans wants to replace him. She took a first step toward that Saturday by getting her supporters in the riding to vote in a new board of directors, which oversees nominations.
"It was democracy," said Kennedy-Glans. "It was very exciting."
She said the federal party has ruled that the only way incumbent members of Parliament can be ousted is if two-thirds of members in the riding vote to hold a nomination contest.
Putting that into motion will take a couple of months, she said.
The Enlightened Savage reports on his blog that Ms. Kennedy-Glans' slate of candidates for Board of Directors swept the well-run riding election last night.
The upshot? Rob Anders' days as a Member of Parliament are now numbered.
Update: Title and background modified to better reflect the status of the nomination challenge. Thanks commenters.
(h/t Dr. Dawg)
Posted by Kalim Kassam on March 29, 2009 in Canadian Politics | Permalink
Comments
"Calgary West Tory MP Rob Anders loses nomination fight"
Not factually accurate, it was a board election, not the nomination.
"Rob Anders' days as a Member of Parliament are now numbered."
His freedom pedigree impresses me more than anyone here at the Standard, the key difference being he's willing to say and do politically incorrect things to advance freedom rather than pick and choose superficial issues that may sell well and ignore others, as is the WS MO.
H/T'ing Dr. Dawg, a notorious labour radical, NDP organizer, and vicious anti-conservative troll banned from more blogs than perhaps anyone in Canada, is a bit much. I see Watson comments over there now; does he know how virulently opposed Dawg is to virtually any meaningful freedom initiative you can name? Does he know Dawg mocks and attacks those who would stand up for his freedom of expression? Oh, right, he supports decrim, and this is a single issue blog staffed by single issue bloggers, I forgot.
Anders' putative challenger is a leftist, a politically correct transnational progressivist. She wears the uniform - bottle blond short hair, those ugly glasses, mannish business suits - which screams uptight feminist and tax and spender, and in the age of identity politics that is a fair comment.
Sort of OT but I've wondered: how many writers at the Standard are employed in the private sector or operate a business as their *primary* source of income? I'd guess less than half - and it really, really shows in your argumentation. Your acts wouldn't fly in the private sector or the marketplace.
Posted by: Mandela Is A Terrorist | 2009-03-29 6:01:20 AM
If I were your editorial cartoonist (are you listening, McCullough?), I'd draw a picture of a person labeled "Conservative Party of Canada" holding a stick labeled "Donna Kennedy-Glans" which the person is using to scrape dog shit off the bottom of his shoe. The dog shit would be labeled "Rob Anders".
Posted by: Fact Check | 2009-03-29 6:34:28 AM
Mr. Anders was my MP for a stretch when I was a student at U of C. During that time, he completely refused to attend debates, ignored requests for meetings, and generally dodged any interaction with people who weren't his trusted allies. Though seeing him get trounced in a general election would be more satisfying, I'm glad he's finally getting his comeuppance. You can only bite your thumb at your constituents for so long.
Posted by: Voice of Reason | 2009-03-29 6:53:19 AM
Just for the record (having finally stopped my involuntary giggling after reading my "bio," above), I've been banned by only four blogsites that I'm aware of.
The first one sent me packing for reprinting particularly ripe statements from her commenters, not for trolling. The second one banned me, if you can believe it, for not deleting someone from my own blogroll. The third one--who bills himself as a "leftist," by the way--bans everyone who disagrees with him, on principle. And the owner of the fourth one has had the chutzpah to come over to comment at my place! (His comments remain, by the way, trollish though they be.)
I continue to comment at a number of conservative sites when the debates get interesting, and have been made to feel quite welcome by my hosts. And, unlike the commenter above, I don't use sockies.
Back to Anders, though. A first step has been taken, but it's a fixed race, at least to some extent. Anyone challenging Anders, as I understand it, must win by 2/3 of all members in the EDA--not just of those who show up to vote. That's a bit of an uphill climb, although the sweep of the Board indicates that the times they are a-changin', even in Calgary West.
Posted by: Dr.Dawg | 2009-03-29 7:39:51 AM
I've had a few opportunities to meet Rob Anders.
What a completely unremarkable man. Other than to say he is a moron, I don't think he stands out in any way whatsoever. He is a backbencher who does whatever he is told to do. I have met many of his constituents and was one myself for a few years...
As near as I can tell he was voted in because he wears a "blue" suit. A monkey would have done just as well.
Posted by: JC | 2009-03-29 8:35:51 AM
Rob Anders...good riddance to bad rubbish
Posted by: aa | 2009-03-29 10:57:30 AM
The best news of the day!!!
Posted by: Werner Patels | 2009-03-29 1:05:23 PM
"The upshot? Rob Anders' days as a Member of Parliament are now numbered."
Anders was referred by the Bloc as the "Turbo Capitalist." He wasn't perfect, but he was friendly to a free market agenda, as his nickname implied. He was also friendly to the Western Standard.
This is sad news. I didn't even know he was in a nomination fight -- and I live in his riding. I guess I have successfully de-politized.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-03-29 1:54:38 PM
Sorry. I now realize this was a regular riding association meeting. Anders has not lost a nomination.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-03-29 2:10:15 PM
I know a lot of free-market folks who like Anders, but I've always been under the impression that he's inclined to put his social agenda (which seems fairly statist) before his economic one. Maybe I'm mistaken, though.
Posted by: Janet | 2009-03-29 2:56:23 PM
Rob has grown more socially conservative and less libertarian over the years. Perhaps this is the result of a change of heart, or perhaps it is just a pragmatic move to secure a loyal so-con base (and not the anti-statist so-con variety I like so much) to guard against exactly this type of looming nomination challenge.
Either way, I prefer the old Rob (Canadians Against Forced Unionism head, Fraser Institute trained, etc.) better than the new Rob.
That being written, he is likely better than his opponent, although -- to be fair -- I don't know much about her.
For now, Rob can count on my personal support should be face a real threat.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-03-29 5:51:24 PM
As someone who stood out in the cold for 90 minutes, I can tell you that Ms. Kennedy-Glans is an elitist who doesn't represent the people. I overheard her tell people that "engineers, lawyers, and doctors" were offended by the 'rednecks' representing them. Well, as an engineer (and not a redneck), I can tell you that I don't support that type of elitist attitude. Those attitudes are best left where they belong... in the Liberal party.
Posted by: GGF | 2009-03-29 7:17:11 PM
To allow someone like Kennedy-Glans in the CPC is akin to accepting a wolf to run with the sheep. She is anything but a conservative.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-03-29 7:47:22 PM
She is anything but a conservative.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-03-29 7:47:22 PM
Alain...they're ALL anything but conservatives.
Which is why, in my opinion, they're ALL irrelevany in any way except the damage they do.
Posted by: JC | 2009-03-29 7:50:56 PM
Thanks for your comment, Alain.
I'm going to do some research on Kennedy-Glans.
I appreciate your sentiment, JC, which is why these days I look to the Libertarian Party. That being written, it never hurts to have people friendly to the freedom movement in every party -- and Rob is, on the whole, one of those people.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-03-30 10:24:26 AM
I can't really tell what Rob Anders' personal beliefs are. He is adept at avoiding debates ande public forums, his newsletter is mostly a collection of quotes form Conservative MP's other than himself. He has certainly said some outrageous comments when he has spoken.
That said, he has been an MP for quite a while and has made little progress, remaining largely without influence or success. Were he in the private sector, he would be the bypassed staffer.
Kennedy-Glans appears to be centrist (who isn't these days?) and, in my opinion, the economic conditions of these times are more suited to such a person. Attacks on her for liberalism and elitism seem unfounded and unproved. I hope she, or some new candidate represents our riding well in the future.
At least my disappointment in Anders has galvanized my interest in local politics.
Posted by: Hans Schoendorfer | 2009-04-02 9:57:13 PM
I have not known Anders to duck a debate. In fact he relishes debates,,, among equals. As a student at the UofC he debated students but he is no longer a student and should not be making his rounds at the weekly Speakers’ Corner. Any dolt at the UofC who thinks he should is just that: a dolt.
Anders is principled to such an extent that he has taken stands which are not politically correct. Truth be told Mandela was a terrorist. His wife Winnie did not spend a single day in jail for the murders she committed by having her “soccer team” of thugs murder fellow blacks. Truth be told China invaded an independent nation and subjugated their people and instituted policies that can be termed genocidal. So what if a person stuck to principle and opposed these persons from being given the Order of Canada or giving their own private reception at our own parliament.
Kennedy-Glans is merely a worm who crawled from out of her socialist refuse pile to run as a conservative and warm a seat. I rather have an independent thinker such as Anders rather than a sycophant such as Kennedy=Glans.
Posted by: Peter Gnanapragasam | 2009-09-02 8:21:04 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.