Alderman at large! Disband parties! Vote for the person!

LOL. Love it.

I've always been frustrated by the way that Canadian politics works in the regard to someone like Anders. But even tossing the current state of Canadian representation aside, I still don't understand why Anders is allowed to represent the CPC at all. I mean, when they were starting the Reform Party it was kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel for people to run, but now? Come on. There have to be more responsible, less controversial people to put in the seat of that riding to just get that asshat out of Ottawa.

The fact is, he represents Canada, and he does so extremely poorly. Hell, he represents the CPC poorly, why is he not censured by his own party?

I know I was ranting about this on twitter, but I always find general understanding of the PM in Canada fascinating. en.wikipedia.org

I would guess Anders represents a certain facet of the party that Harper can't come right out and support openly. Perhaps he feels that transexuals are just sexual predators that roam bathrooms looking to diddle everything, but he surely can't say that in public.

Anders is a crazy case study. As you said, the guy should be long gone, but they still keep him around. Good call Russ, I think you're pretty much on to it.

That's almost beside the point though. Even if that's what you think, this costs the CPC more and more credibility. Maybe I'm crazy or just wrong in my thinking, but I really don't think that Canadians are as extreme as a guy like Harper probably is. In this day and age, Anders comments and actions are only going to get more and more coverage, and it's going to push more and more people away from thinking of voting CPC.

Total aside, but Connor, your PM link led me to Viscount Bennet, my mom used to teach summer school there, and I always wanted to know: what the fuck is a Viscount?

Hopefully!

Sorry, I agree with you Dan, I don't think Canadians are that extreme at all. I think when Anders was elected he was so ingrained in the Reform grassroots and at that time I think Calgary West was still a relatively young area. (If I recall it was heavily religious). So he probably fit the area to a tee.

But nowadays I don't think the demographics of that region really reflect what Anders stands for and I think it's a case of people not really believing there is another option.

I didn't know that this was Harper's first riding: en.wikipedia.org

Ha. Lol. (Re: The Viscount bennett). I always find that wikipedia link facinating (I know, I know I shouldn't use Wikipedia for info), but some of the stuff in there is interesting.... and depressing.

"In a poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid following the first prorogation of the 40th parliament on December 4, 2008, it was found that 51% of the sample group thought the prime minister was directly elected by Canadians.[10]"

" For example William Lyon Mackenzie King, after losing his seat in the same general election that his party won, briefly "governed from the hallway" before winning a by-election a few weeks later."

We're so engrained in the US media etc. it's no wonder people here think they're voting for a party/PM. The MP is who represents you...and if it's someone like Anders chances are your ideals don't really match up (unless you're a crazy person).

Okay, I didn't know that Dave Bronconnier lost to Anders in 97...

I think that's just political laziness on the part of Canadians. Relatively interesting to look at the stats of Calgary West. Anders handily wins every time with more than 50% of the vote, and regularly more than 60% of voters turn out.

I've always been politically engaged, and I'm always wondering if I'm relatively alone in this? I mean we all are, but that's probably why we follow each other on twitter right? What about everyone else? Can they really be so disengaged?

Calgary is hilarious. We elect Liberal mayors, but hiss and spit at anything else running under a red banner.

Ya why are the federal liberals such a villain around here anyway?

The standard belief seems to be that all the money we work so hard for will just go to Quebec. I've never totally understood Alberta's attitude towards the oil... it's as though some think that we willed the oil to come here. We're fortunate enough to settle atop a giant ocean of it, beyond that we didn't do too much to earn it. It's Canada's oil imo.

All you have to do is hear reaction around Calgary to Justin Trudeau announcing he's running for the Liberal leadership. National Energy Program. People in Calgary were destroyed by that. It set this city back by about 20 years. It had impacts on pretty much every person living in this city. Crippled our economy, transit system, infrastructure, etc.

People in this city were looking like rockstars and then their entire world collapsed around them and Ontario got rich. That distrust is now passed down through generations. It's like Palestine vs Israel but waaaay less harmful.

Let's not even bring up Quebec. Just separate and shut the fuck up already.

So what do you guys think would actually get someone else to take over Rob Anders spot, or what does he have to do to finally get kicked out of the CPC?

Yeah, As Dan said it's the NEP. And pretty much as he noted, it's been ingrained into the psyche of most Calgarians born in 1980s. "We" hate the term Liberal regardless of what's actually being said. Heck even check out the comments on the Sun when Justin Trudeau basically said the NEP was a BAD idea to get a gist of the irrational hate.

calgarysun.com

That being said, I understand why people hate NEP and Trudeau. It's why I grew up in the Middle East during the early 80s and why my in-laws really struggled. But as Dan said, people still let the NEP blind whatever's going on in today's politics, even when it has nothing to do with today's world. It's why you see the talk of a big bad scary CARBON TAX. (when it's not actually a tax)

I think he has to get kicked out by the CPC, it's the only way...Calgary West voted him in so many times it's pretty clear they're just voting on party lines, because he's obviously not fit to represent anything.

I'm pretty sure OJ Simpson could win an election there if he ran under the PC banner.

Yup. It would basically take the CPC kicking him out or for him to step down (which I imagine will happen this time around). The only other way is if Nenshi (who refuses to tie himself to a political party for the reasons described) or Iginla ran. Unless there is another local rockstar who could pull in more attention that I'm missing?

He's definitely run his course, just piss off and enjoy that pension.