XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, ont.politics   
   From: {~_~}@nyet.ca   
      
   And already the dirty Conservative games have begun . . . .   
   ___________________________________________________   
      
   Ottawa Citizen - March 25, 2014   
      
      
   Calgary MP Rob Anders’ team made fake calls, rival alleges   
      
      
   OTTAWA — A former Alberta provincial cabinet minister fighting Calgary   
   MP Rob Anders for the Conservative nomination has complained to   
   Elections Canada and the telecommunications watchdog that the MP’s team   
   made fraudulent phone calls to party members.   
      
   It’s the latest twist in a heated nomination battle that saw Prime   
   Minister Stephen Harper on Monday officially endorse the controversial   
   Anders for the Conservative nomination for the 2015 federal election in   
   the redrawn riding of Calgary Signal Hill.   
      
   Former Alberta Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Ron Liepert   
   said dozens of Conservative party members in the Calgary Signal Hill   
   riding have complained to him that they received phone calls on Friday   
   from people claiming to be either from Liepert’s campaign or the   
   Conservative party, when, in fact, they were not.   
      
   The callers asked voters if they were planning to support Liepert in the   
   upcoming nomination vote, expected to be held sometime between April 10   
   and April 15, he said. When people called back that same number from   
   which the phone calls originated, “in every case” officials at the   
   Anders campaign answered, Liepert said Monday.   
      
   The Liepert campaign says it has filed complaints with Elections Canada   
   and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission   
   (CRTC) asking them to investigate the alleged fraudulent phone calls.   
      
   “This is very serious stuff. You can’t impersonate somebody,” Liepert   
   said Monday in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen.   
      
   “What’s happened, I suspect, is that they got tired of being blasted or   
   hung up on when they identified themselves as the Rob Anders campaign.”   
      
   Anders could not be reached for comment on the allegations.   
      
   In the complaint to Elections Canada, a copy of which has been seen by   
   the Ottawa Citizen, the Liepert campaign says Anders “is calling   
   constituents and misrepresenting himself.”   
      
   The Canada Elections Act applies to party nomination contests for the   
   financial reporting of candidates, but it’s not immediately clear   
   whether the act addresses alleged misleading phone calls in party   
   nomination races.   
      
   Conservative party member Molly Henderson, a resident of the newly   
   redrawn Calgary Signal Hill riding, said she received a call around 7:30   
   p.m. Friday from someone claiming to be from the Liepert campaign.   
      
   A supporter of Liepert’s, she didn’t think much of it at the time. But   
   any hint that another candidate’s campaign would misrepresent themselves   
   would be hugely “disappointing,” she said Monday.   
      
   Harper’s endorsement of Anders comes as the Conservative backbencher   
   faces a serious challenge from Liepert, a well-known former Alberta   
   provincial minister.   
      
   It’s unusual for the prime minister and Conservative party leader to   
   endorse a particular candidate in a contested riding when the party has   
   promised open nominations. However, it’s believed Harper is providing an   
   endorsement quote for all incumbent Conservative MPs being challenged   
   for nominations.   
      
   Henderson, who’s in her 70s, said she’s also disappointed in Harper for   
   endorsing Anders, “particularly in a riding that is as unsettled as this   
   one.”   
      
   Anders is a longtime Conservative member of Parliament known for his   
   strong socially and fiscally conservative views — and sometimes   
   inflammatory statements.   
      
   The 41-year-old Anders posted a release on his nomination website Monday   
   that says Harper has endorsed him for the Conservative party nomination   
   in Calgary Signal Hill.   
      
   “Rob Anders has been a strong voice in our Caucus and Conservative   
   Government as well as a valued member of our team,” says a quote   
   attributed to Harper. “The Road to 2015 is one that needs strong, stable   
   leadership and I’ve been able to count on Rob to get real results for   
   his riding and our country.”   
      
   The Prime Minister’s Office directed media inquiries to the Conservative   
   Party of Canada. “I can confirm that the quote can be attributed to the   
   Prime Minister and leader of our party,” Conservative party spokesman   
   Cory Hann said in an email.   
      
   Hann wouldn’t say whether Harper plans on endorsing any other   
   Conservative candidates, nor would he address if it’s appropriate in an   
   open nomination race.   
      
   Anders has a track record that includes outlandish statements and   
   awkward behaviour, but Harper and the party continue to support him.   
      
   He is known for opposing attempts to declare Nelson Mandela an honorary   
   Canadian, dismissing the former South African president as “a communist   
   and a terrorist.”   
      
   In 2012, he was booted from the House of Commons veterans affairs   
   committee after falling asleep during a committee meeting. Anders was   
   also ridiculed for apparently falling asleep during question period in   
   the House of Commons in 2011 in a video that went viral on the Internet.   
   He blamed the nap on the side effects from a car accident.   
      
   Also in 2012, he apologized for suggesting NDP Leader Tom Mulcair   
   “helped to hasten” Jack Layton’s death.   
      
   Anders was also forced to apologize in the House of Commons for comments   
   he wrote to Canadian troops in Afghanistan that told them: “When in   
   doubt, pull the trigger.”   
      
   An outspoken critic of China’s human rights record, he was criticized   
   for comparing the 2008 Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Games held in Berlin   
   when Germany was under Nazi rule.   
      
   In his press release Monday, Anders said, “Prime Minister Harper knows   
   that I will always fight against tax-and-spend liberals like Ron Liepert   
   and his good friend, (now-former Alberta premier) Alison Redford.”   
      
   Anders has known Harper and his family since the 1990s and was close to   
   the prime minister’s late father, Joseph. The backbench Conservative MP   
   has said Joseph Harper, who served as treasurer on Anders’s first   
   election campaign, was one of his biggest influences.   
      
   Anders was also endorsed Monday by fellow Conservative MP John   
   Williamson, Harper’s former director of communications and past national   
   director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.   
      
   “Rob Anders is a veteran member and his repeated contributions to our   
   weekly caucus discussions are principled as he dependably promotes lower   
   taxes, spending discipline and conservative-oriented solutions,”   
   Williamson said in an email to the Ottawa Citizen.   
   ______________________________________________________________________________   
      
   Rob Anders is a veteran idiot.  Harper is an even bigger one to endorse   
      
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