CALGARY — Most members of a Calgary riding association held by a controversial Conservative MP have resigned, saying they can’t function under the “arbitrary and absolute control” of the national wing of their own party.
The two groups had been arguing over the candidacy of five-term MP Rob Anders in the next federal election.
National Tory policy makes it difficult to hold a nomination contest if a sitting MP wishes to run again, and those opposing Anders hadn’t been able to meet the requirements.
But the riding association planned to push ahead with attempts at a nomination battle anyway before the national wing of the Tory party stepped in last week to take control.
Sixteen Calgary West board members said in a letter dated Wednesday that they couldn’t continue after the council restricted the board’s access to funds, took away control over elections at an upcoming general meeting and cut off access to the riding’s membership.
“We feel that democracy is being neither recognized nor served by the arbitrary and absolute control being utilized by the national council in attempting to minutely direct both the actions and thoughts of the local board,” reads the letter sent to John Walsh, president of the national council.
The members said the Conservative party hasn’t responded to the board president’s attempts to talk since the actions were taken Feb. 4.
Fred DeLorey, director of communications for the Conservative Party of Canada, said in an email Thursday that the party “will not be commenting on internal party matters.”
Anders has won the riding five times, but corporate lawyer Donna Kennedy-Glans wants to run against him for the Tory nomination in the next election.
The federal party ruled last spring that the only way incumbent members of Parliament can be ousted is if two-thirds of all members in the riding vote to hold a nomination contest. That number was not achieved in Calgary West. Anders was declared e the candidate for the next election, but the board still wanted an open nomination meeting. It voted at its last meeting to bring the matter to a vote at the upcoming annual general meeting.
Anders said Thursday that the members who resigned have never supported him or the party and were voted in by Liberals who bought memberships to cause strife within the party. Nine other board members with the same slant had previously resigned, he said.
“Some of the more reasonable ones determined that they didn’t want to be part of the shenanigans going on, so they resigned,” he said.
“Now, finally, we’ve had the lion’s share of the people who were offside with the party (leave).”
Anders said the remaining seven board members will form an executive.
The majority of the board members were voted in by supporters of Kennedy-Glans and their letter of resignation was posted to a website she set up to challenge for the riding.
But the resigning members said in the letter they simply wanted the Conservative party to allow “the opportunity for members to respond to a question regarding a nomination contest, given no such event had occurred for a number of years.
“In no way was this a reflection on the adequacy of our current MP.”
Two years ago, disgruntled Tories tried to take their challenge of Anders’ acclamation in Calgary West to the Supreme Court, but it refused to hear their appeal.
Political scientist Lisa Young of the University of Calgary said the national Conservatives have made it nearly impossible to unseat an incumbent, since the two-thirds required to make the change refers to all members of a riding rather than simply to the number of ballots cast.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper once held the Calgary West riding as a Reform MP and Young said the new election rules don’t mesh with the party’s more Conservative roots.
“It’s not in keeping with the ethos of the old Reform party, certainly, where it was about grassroots democracy and one member, one vote, and so on,” she said.
But she added that such tight control also isn’t unusual.
“It’s fairly clear here that the Conservatives, the national party, is committed to protecting its incumbent MPs, which is not atypical for political parties, especially in minority governments.”
Among Anders’ more controversial comments was one where he said the Beijing Olympics would be comparable to the 1936 Games held in Nazi Germany because of China’s record on human rights.
In 2001, he was the only MP to vote against making Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada. He called Mandela a communist and a terrorist and his comments were labelled “stupid” by then-prime minister Jean Chretien.
Anders said Thursday that it’s best for the party to have him as its candidate in the next election.
“You have to understand the circumstances. We’re in a minority government, we’re going to have a budget vote here in March, the government could literally collapse in March and go to the polls,” he said.
“So the party has already had a process to determine whether or not incumbents will face nominations and Calgary West members determined they didn’t want one.”