I was not surprised to hear on the weekend that Calgary West MP Rob Anders will not be facing a nomination battle. (Fellow Blogger, The Enlightened Savage, had an excellent post on the background of this story, which can be found here.)
While I am sure that potential challenger Donna Kennedy- Glans will be crying foul after this news, I must say that I feel that the result is fair, given the rules presented. Under the national party rules, there must be at least 2/3 support from the riding members to force a nomination battle. This in itself is a challenge, but I believe it is fair, as the rules were the SAME for all sitting CPC MP's.
Now, I know that group that opposes Mr. Anders has some support, ( they are rumoured to have sold 1000 new memberships) but they appeared to be a little late getting organized. That said, they look to be pretty well run. Take a look at their website and blog and you will confirm that they potentially posed a serious threat.
Once again, voter apathy was likely the culprit here. If the majority of Calgary West members actually cared, they would have sent their mail out back to the party, confirming that they would like a nomination contest. Seeing that they did not get the support required, I can guess one of these things is the cause...
1) Calgary West Loves Rob Anders
2) The group making the most noise/protests about Mr. Anders do not hold CPC memberships. ( or did not open or respond to the party letter. I got mine in Calgary SE, so they were sent out.)
3) Donna's supporters are just not large enough in number to have forced the issue?
4) People in Calgary West just do not care?
5) All of the above.
Blaming the CPC rules is the easy thing to do, but not entirely fair. If there is enough support for change in Calgary West, it will happen eventually. ( And hopefully not to another party. )
The issue is that the rules changed immediately before the AGM that elected Donna's board. This meant the Party stepped in to prevent a nomination contest since (in Alberta with 40% voter turnout) there will never be a 2/3s response to a mail-in ballot, let alone an actual election.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue was that Donna's board wasn't given the membership list for the riding since they hadn't been able to meet quick enough to get their executive sorted out. They therefore weren't even able to ensure that every member in the riding got the mailout and had ample time to return it.
Spew crap all you want about why Anders' is still in, but the truth is the Conservative Party stepped in to make it nearly impossible to put him to the voters. It was a highly undemocratic move, and should be deplored by anyone who thinks actively involved people should actually get a say in policy.
Fair enough Ian! Thanks for your post. Like I said, if there is a will to make a change, it will happen. ( Great Blog you have by the way.)
ReplyDeleteShane