In early December, residents of Richmond, British Columbia, began receiving pamphlets in their mail from Conservative candidate Rob Anders. This shouldn’t have been newsworthy, except that Rob Anders is not the Conservative candidate in Richmond, B.C. In fact, he’s the candidate for Calgary North West. The CTV election blog covered the beginning of that story here.
Two days ago, Global News in Calgary found the story (even though it’s a month old) and went to Anders’ campaign office. He wasn’t there, so the reporter asked a volunteer if he was in British Columbia. “British Columbia?” she questioned. “He’s not in British Columbia.”
Global, better late than never, wondered where Anders was. They called the Conservative Party and found out he was in B.C. helping out with a fellow Conservative candidate’s campaign (hopefully not Derek Zeisman’s). So they went back to his campaign office and asked the same volunteer if she had any more news about the candidate’s whereabouts. “He’s in B.C.” she gleefully proclaimed. The reporter was stunned.
It’s too bad Global jumped on this story so late, but I like the aggressiveness with which they are pursuing it. There is no news about this on the Global site, or the Calgary Herald site, that I could find and a “Rob Anders” search on Canada.com gets me nothing. If anyone finds a clip of this Global story, please let me know. Global also had a story about a public health forum held in Calgary to which representatives of all parties were invited. Rob Anders was replaced by one of those plastic bird toys that rocks back and forth until it gains enough momentum to take a sip of water from a cup placed in front of it and then goes back to rocking back and forth until it gets enough momentum to…well, you get the picture.
Global should be commended for holding Anders accountable, especially in Calgary. Conservatives hold all of Calgary’s seats and the other parties have pretty much given up (the Liberal candidate don’t even have signs made, as I mentioned earlier).
But the electorate should know who cares about them and who is off parading around in British Columbia. In a culture of resignation, it’s great to see Global standing up for Calgarians.
Hey hey JK,
Found an interview with Mr. Anders on CICT in Calgary and apparently he was campaigning for Zeisman, the now disgraced candidate. I expect this to hit the news in a bigger way now, because apparently he and many other candidates campaigned for Zeisman because of Zeismn’s injuires.
NIRMALA: A TORY CANDIDATE IN SOUTHEASTERN B.C. HAS BEEN DISOWNED BY HIS PARTY.
GORD: STEVEN HARPER MADE A THE ANNOUNCEMENT AFTER IT WAS REVEALED ZEISMAN FACES SMUGGLING CHARGES. HE IS ACCUSED OF TRYING TO BRING A MERCEDES AND 112 CONTAINERS OF ALCOHOL FROM WASHINGTON STATE INTO B.C. ALSO CHARGED WITH LYING TO CUSTOMS OFFICERS ABOUT THE INCIDENT. HE IS CURRENTLY IN HOSPITAL FOLLOWING A SERIOUS CAR CRASH FIVE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS. HARPER SAYS HE SHOULD HAVE REVEALED HIS LEGAL PROBLEMS BEFORE SEEKING THE NOMINATION AND HE’LL HAVE TO SIT AS AN INDEPENDENT IF HE WINS. ZEISMAN IS THE SAME CANDIDATE THAT ROB ANDERS WAS TO BE CAMPAIGNING FOR THIS WEEK IN B B.C.
NIRMALA: ANDERS FACE AS HIS OWN CONTROVERSY IN CALGARY. HIS OPPONENTS IN CALGARY WEST HAVE CRITICIZED HIM FOR NOT BEING VISIBLE IN THE RIDING DURING THE CAMPAIGN. GLOBAL NEWS WAS UNABLE TO TRACK HIM DOWN IN THE PAST WEEK AND THERE HAVE BEEN CONFLICTING REPORTS ABOUT HIS WHEREABOUTS. HIS STAFF CLAIMS HE HAS BEEN IN B.C. HELPING ZEISMAN. CONSERVATIVES SAY THEY HAVE NOT SEEN HIM. WELL, YOU ARE WITH ROB ANDERS.
THAT’S RIGHT. ROB ANDERS ARRIVED IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD TO DO DOOR KNOCKING A FEW MINUTES AGO. HE JOINS US LIVE. MR. ANDERS, OUR FIRST QUESTION FOR SURE THAT I’M SURE A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE WONDERING. THERE WAS TALK YOU WERE IN B.C. WHEN WE CALLED TO FIND OUT WHEN YOU WERE ARRIVING, CONSERVATIVE STAFF SAID THAT YOU WERE NOT THERE.
I WAS IN CASSLEGORE ON TUESDAY NIGHT. I WAS IN TRAIL ON WEDNESDAY MORNING. I DID MAIN STREETING IN NELSON AND WOUND UP THE AFTERNOON WITH DOOR KNOCKING IN NELSON.
YOU WENT TO HELP ZEISMAN. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM?
HE IS A CANDIDATE HOSPITALIZED AS A RESULT OF A CAR ACCIDENT. HE IS ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL TEAM.
WHY DID YOU GO OUT THERE? I UNDERSTAND HE IS INJURED AND THAT HE CAN’T GO DOOR KNOCKING. WHY DUE LEAVE YOUR RIDING TO GO THERE FOR HIM?
WELL, WE’RE A NATIONAL PARTY. OTHERS WERE HELPING OUT AS WELL. WHEREVER WE CAN SPARE BODIES TO HELP OUT AN INJURED CANDIDATE, WE DO OUR BEST.
THERE IS CONFUSION AS SOME PEOPLE SAY YOU WERE THERE, NO, YOU WEREN’T. DO YOU HAVE RECEIPTS FROM YOUR B.C. TRIP?
SURE. I WAS THERE ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THERE IS TRAVEL TIME. I STAYED IN CRANBROOK MONDAY NIGHT AND CRANBROOK ON THE NIGHT COMING BACK. YOU KNOW, IT IS TOUGH SLOGING THROUGH MOUNTAIN PASSES. WE HAD A MUD SLIDE AND THERE WAS A HIGHWAY BLOCKAGE DUE TO AN AVALANCHE OR SNOWFALL. IT’S Tough TRAVELING IN THE WINTER. WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE WERE HELPING OUT SOMEBODY THAT HAD A CAR ACCIDENT.
WE’RE OUT OF TIME. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. WE’LL HAVE MORE COMING UP ON GLOBAL NEWS AT 11:00.
NIRMALA: THANK YOU.
Thanks for posting that, anonymous. Initially, I had only heard that Rob Anders pamphlets had been seen in Richmond, but then heard last night that Anders had been in the interior. I connected the dots, but it hadn’t been confirmed until now.
I guess the story now is – when did the Conservatives know about Zeisman’s illegal activities and how soon did they react to them.
We’ll see how far the press takes this story.