[unimaginative2]

I'm starting to get really frustrated here... Check out the guy's website and picture "pose". It's quite hilarious in a horrible sort of way.

The Chandler problem

November 29, 2007

At the federal Progressive Conservatives' 2003 leadership convention, contender Jim Prentice received a most unwelcome endorsement. To a chorus of boos, fringe candidate Craig Chandler used his convention speech to deliver a virulent attack on frontrunner Peter MacKay for supporting the passage of legislation that added hate-crimes protection for gays; he then threw his minimal support behind Mr. Prentice. The endorsement, described by one of Mr. Prentice's advisers as "a slap in the back from someone with a knife in his hand," was widely seen to contribute to Mr. MacKay's eventual victory.

Mr. Prentice, now the federal Industry Minister, no longer has to worry about Mr. Chandler. But Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach does. To the horror of many provincial Conservatives, Mr. Chandler, a businessman and former head of Concerned Christians Canada, recently won the party's nomination in the traditionally safe Tory riding of Calgary-Egmont. Now, Mr. Stelmach is grappling with whether he can let someone with Mr. Chandler's views represent his party - a decision that, on review of the candidate's past behaviour, should not be difficult.

While campaigning for the nomination in August, Mr. Chandler made headlines with an online commentary in which he suggested that newcomers to Alberta "need to remember that you came here to our home and we vote conservative," advising them to "adapt to our rules and our voting patterns, or leave." But Mr. Chandler's most disturbing views undoubtedly relate to homosexuality. Earlier this year, a settlement arranged by the Canadian Human Rights Commission forced him to publish an apology for comments made on a radio program that he co-hosts - among them, reportedly, that "God sees murder as equal to homosexuality." As part of the settlement, he agreed to "cease and desist" from posting information on the Internet claiming that "homosexuals are conspiring against society" and that they are "sick, diseased or mentally ill."

His homophobia appears to know few bounds. On the website of Concerned Christians, he approvingly pointed to a letter by Calgary pastor Stephen Boissoin charging that "[w]here homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds." When Belinda Stronach ran for the Conservative leadership, he suggested the presence of gay activists on her campaign team meant "a takeover from the militant homosexual movement" was at hand.

Should Mr. Stelmach and Conservative officials overturn Mr. Chandler's nomination, as they are said to be considering, it will undoubtedly provoke a backlash from hard-line social conservatives. But that is a sacrifice the Tories should make. While candidates need not rigidly rehearse their party's line on every issue, they should represent its basic values and principles. It is impossible to imagine, in this day and age, that Mr. Chandler is capable of doing so for any mainstream party.

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Now, to top it all off, here's an endorsement listed on his website:

"You have demonstrated public spirit and a deep love of Canada through your devotion to so many worthy causes"
The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
April 18, 2007

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

While campaigning for the nomination in August, Mr. Chandler made headlines with an online commentary in which he suggested that newcomers to Alberta "need to remember that you came here to our home and we vote conservative," advising them to "adapt to our rules and our voting patterns, or leave."

I am sure that's what Mr. Harper is referring to!

AoD

 

[AndreaPalladio]

I can't imagine what problem the Alberta premier has with this candidate. His views correspond exactly with those of the Prime Minister, who proudly stood in his place in the House three times and voted to make homosexuals second class citizens.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

takeover from the militant homosexual movement

LOL!

 

[ITcomputer]

^ I laughed at this as well, like there is some sort of training camp in the woods of Alberta arming the gay militia.

Everytime someone says that Harper and his party isn't that bad, I point out some of the freaks they have representing them.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

^ I laughed at this as well, like there is some sort of training camp in the woods of Alberta arming the gay militia.

Everytime someone says that Harper and his party isn't that bad, I point out some of the freaks they have representing them.

they come in the middle of the night, buy up all our victorian homes, do repairs and restoration work thus increasing property values in an effort to drive out the non gays or force them to seek second jobs as interior decorators to pay the bills thus completing the homosexual circle. they sneak into our homes at night while we sleep and rearrange the furniture, clean the gunk on the top of the ketchup bottle and water our ferns.

oh the horror!

i heard they put fluoride in the water to increase the size of female clitoris in an effort to make everyone gay. they say it's to strengthen our teeth but it's really to weaken our sphincters.

 

[ShonTron]

Damn those commie gays - threatening the purity and essence of our precious bodily fluids!

He's running for the provincial party, which means he'll be allowed to say what ever he wants with a rural blue conservative like Stelmach if he wins the nomination - we all know that Harper muzzled all the family values freaks so we unfortunately never hear from some of the looney tunes characters in the federal caucus.

 

[adma]

I dunno, Stelmach seems pretty softie for a "rural blue conservative". He's certainly no Ted Morton...

 

[allabootmatt]

Don't despair...Harper can only keep a lid on the loons for so long, especially as the party gets more comfortable with its government status. The crazies will come back out sooner or later, and then it's curtains.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

The sad thing is, this is the type of guy who continues to perpetuate the notion of Alberta being a backwater hick province... if you talk to the average Calgarian or Edmontonian, they will probably be as disgusted with the guy as we are. The PC's in Alberta are at their lowest levels in decades as the cities themselves begin to evolve and become more liberal (small L). Sadly, this has yet to translate into votes toward the left-leaning parties, as the notion of the Liberals being east-centric is also a misconception that continues to be perpetuated out there.

That being said, I think as Edmonton/Calgary gain more and more prominence and a greater majority in population, the right wing hacks will begin to fade away. If it wasn't for the overwhelming influence of the cities in Ontario, we could easily be the backwater hick province... some of the rural areas in Ontario astonish me in how "backwards" they could be. Thankfully they can't speak against the 8-million + that live in cities in Ontario.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

This is a good thread from Skyscraperpage that pretty much shows the typical sentiment out there:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=137110

 

[Long Island Mike]

Hard-Right thinking in Canada's Prairies...

Everyone: I feel that I could be reading about a Conservative candidate from the US Bible Belt of the South instead of Alberta,Canada here. Sometimes their thinking just baffles me. A buddy of mine-who does not trust the hard-core Christian Right one bit-once said to me the following:
"Gays are to Christian Conservatives today what the Jews were once to the Nazis." I also notice many Conservatives have a Us VS. Them mentality-especially aimed at those who do not agree with their philosophy.
This is what I am noticing here-DIVISIVENESS! LI MIKE

 

[299 bloor call control.]

And so ends the story of this bigot:

Alberta Tories oust candidate linked to anti-gay controversy
The Canadian Press
December 1, 2007 at 7:50 PM EST
RED DEER — An ugly internal dispute over sex, religion and violence erupted within the Alberta Conservative party Saturday, ending up with a candidate being ousted and Premier Ed Stelmach saying the reasons for the "difficult" decision must remain confidential.

Mr. Stelmach presided over a private meeting of his party's 40-member executive committee, which voted not to endorse the nomination of a candidate who founded a group linked to an anti-gay letter.

Mr. Stelmach emerged from the closed-door session to announce that Craig Chandler's nomination in Calgary-Egmont was "not in the best interests of the party."

"I have always been a strong believer in human rights," said the Premier.

However, he said the party's constitution prohibits him from discussing the details of what was said at the meeting or divulging the vote results.

"My responsibility is to uphold the constitution of the party and make a decision that's in the best interests of the party."

Mr. Chandler was incensed by the decision and said he's quitting the party and may run against the Tories in the next provincial election, expected sometime in the new year.

"I'm not going to belong to a party that doesn't want me," Mr. Chandler said moments after being handed a brief handwritten note by a party official.

"I would consider running as an independent. I would consider other options as well."

A member of a Christian group headed by Mr. Chandler wrote a letter several years ago entitled "Homosexual Agenda Wicked," which suggested gays were as immoral as pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission had Mr. Chandler agree last January to post a letter of apology on his website.

The Alberta Human Rights Commission weighed in Friday with a ruling that the letter broke provincial law and may even have played a role in the beating of a gay teenager in Red Deer, where the Tory executive met Saturday.

Mr. Chandler said he felt like the clock had been turned back 50 years and he was being grilled in front of the anti-communist hearings in the U.S. led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

"(They asked) 'Are you a right-winger? Are you a social conservative? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"' Mr. Chandler told reporters.

He used the word "Christ-o-phobic" at one point and said there is a "growing intolerance" within the Tory party.

The Premier said earlier this week when he announced that Mr. Chandler's nomination was under review that his Tories "don't tolerate intolerance."

But the Premier rejected suggestions Saturday that his party was taking a hard-line position against Mr. Chandler.

"We are an open party and will continue to be that."

Tory members in Calgary-Egmont will be given a chance to choose a new candidate early in the new year.

"We will hold another nomination and people can, of course, participate in the next round," said Mr. Stelmach.

Political analyst Keith Brownsey said he was surprised by the move.

"Mr. Chandler was elected fair and square by constituents," said Mr. Brownsey, a political science professor at Mount Royal College in Calgary.

But Mr. Brownsey conceded Mr. Chandler has been a "very controversial individual" who may have hurt the Tory party's election chances in Calgary-Egmont.

"He may be popular with his supporters, but I don't think he reflects the wider sentiments of that riding or Calgary for that matter."

Mr. Chandler ran for the leadership of the federal Conservatives in 2003 and was also a Reform party candidate in Hamilton Mountain in Hamilton, Ont., in 1993.

He runs a Christian radio station in southern Alberta and a business in Calgary, and was formerly the CEO of Concerned Christians Canada Inc.

The offending letter was written by a member of the Christian group, Stephen Boissoin, and was published in the Red Deer Advocate in 2002.

In Friday's ruling, commission panel chairwoman Lori Andreachuk said both Mr. Boissoin and the Christian group broke provincial human rights law by likely exposing gays to hatred and contempt.

"I find that there is a circumstantial connection between the hate speech of Mr. Boissoin and the CCC and the beating of a gay teenager in Red Deer less than two weeks following the publication of Mr. Boissoin's letter," Ms. Andreachuk wrote.

Jim Blake, the national chairman of what is Concerned Christians Canada, said the decision sets a worrisome precedent against freedom of speech and religion.

"If you really can't speak out your religious viewpoints, that is tyrannical," he said.

Mr. Blake said Mr. Boissoin was trying to help homosexual people through his actions and would never have advocated hurting anyone. He also said it was unfair to link Mr. Boissoin's letter to the assault on the teenager.

 

[CDL.TO]

He said there is a "growing intolerance" within the Tory party.

Ha! Not any more now that they've dropped you as the candidate!

Funny that the article completely emphasizes his "Christian" ideology and makes no mention of his forthright lack of tolerance for people who vote differently than he does.

 

[ShonTron]

Excellent outcome. I'm a bit surprised.

If he runs as an independant, what will be the right way to vote? For Chandler, or for the Conservatives?