Craig Chandler Asked To Run For Alberta PCs?

He says he's been:
From here.  A weird smell to this.  Alison Redford won last time by rejecting  teh crazies.  Can't see her embracing them any time soon.

PS.   Here's my entire Craig Chandler file.

Craig Chandler Goes Liberal!

 There's this story in the G&M, so you know it isn't a joke.  Nevertheless, the email from Craig Chandler at the PGIB (Progressive Group for Independent Business) wants you to know:

Craig Chandler, the "don't move to Alta. if you ain't conservative", proto-Western separatist guy, wants PGIB members to take a good look at "dark horse" candidate for leader of the Alberta Liberal Party Bill Harvey.  Not as weird as it sounds.  From what I know about Alberta politics, everyone involved joins the Tories, just because they always win, and then moonlights for the party they really support.  Indeed, Chandler's bunch has been involved in the leadership selection process for both the Wildrose Alliance and provincial Conservative Party, in both cases throwing in with the candidate too crazy to win.  So maybe this in itself tells you something about Bill Harvey.  However, here's a bit more from the email:
 
Bill Harvey is a long time PGIB member and his views are Classical Liberal in flavour or as what we refer to in the modern day as small 'c' conservative. Bill Harvey's policies of less government, lower taxes and political accountability are of the fiscally responsible Laurence Decore era. His view on eliminating Section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights Commission show that he values freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Bill Harvey's policies on putting Alberta first with an Alberta Provincial Police force, controlling our own immigration to his promotion of a Triple E Senate and defense of our oil & gas industry show that he will be a defender of the west.
 
What is also refreshing about Bill Harvey is that he is NOT a federal Liberal! How anyone could be supporter of a party that is the enemy of this province is beyond me?
 
The Alberta Liberal Party has opened up the leadership race to all Albertans and you do NOT, I repeat do NOT have to become a member to vote in this race.

A lesson in the dangers of openness for the LPoC, I suppose, as they consider how to go about choosing their new leader.  Although the federal party seems much less easily subject to takeover as its Alberta equivalent, which has always seemed the very definition of futility.

PS. Section 3 of the Alberta Human Rights Code (not section 3 of the Commission) is the hate-speech provision.  Chandler's a buddy of Stephen  Boission, whose troubles with section 3 due to gay-bashing have made much news in recent years.  Good luck Mr. Harvey, with these guys in your corner you will need it.

"The West" Issues Threats

Excerpted from The Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB)'s news release:

(Calgary) The Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB), Calgary's largest and Western Canada's fastest growing business and taxpayer organization is warning Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton to honour their previous commitments and respect the wishes of Canadians if May 2 results in another Conservative Party minority.

"Western Canada will not tolerate a purposeful slap in the face if the government they chose is rejected by Canada's Central Canadian parties. The threat of the West organizing to separate is real and reared it's head in a serious way last time the coalition threat occurred. Unlike Quebec, the West can afford to leave and even pay its share of the debt on the way out" stated Craig B. Chandler, Executive Director of the PGIB.

[...]

"We are fighting for Canada and want to keep this country together, but, will no longer be ignored or relegated to the sidelines. We are fighting hard this election for a united Canada, but, we ask the rest of the country to finally listen to our cry. The West has free trade with the United States and even Mexico, but, endures inter-provincial trade barriers with the rest of Canada. The West contributes billions and receives less back as part of being part of confederation than any other region. We will no longer be ignored. Either we Re-federate this nation to be a confederation of equal provinces where no one province has special status or power over another, or we part ways. We believe Stephen Harper can and will unite this country. A vote for any other party put's us on a course none of us expected or may have even wanted", concluded Chandler.

On Easter too.  How nice!

Now There's Real Class...All Of It 3rd

Should you be thinking of making snarky comments re Ed Stelmach's departure from politics, go for it; you can't possibly be a bigger heel than Ex-Tory Craig Chandler.

I have been wondering, incidentally, what Ed's departure means for the future direction of the Alberta Conservatives: can they stay Centralist? After all, most of the loons have gone WAP, so there's not (I would reason) a lot of pressure within the party to move right. However, this story suggests that some of the WAPers might come crawling back. Which is possible; I guess nobody surrenders their PC membership card in Alberta; they just join other parties in addition.

The First In A Series?

Wildrose Alliance "strategist" Stephen Carter on Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach's Ukranian accent:

"Just saw da premier making a speech. Dat was quite a speech. Dem media better report it right."

...a tweet for which he has since apologized.

Ms. Smith can come off looking and sounding more or less normal, but when you get to the lower echelons, when The Wildrose Alliance start wheeling out nominees, they will, mark my words, have problems with teh crazy. Chandler and the separatists and the wall builders are still out there, waiting for their time to howwwl!

Wildrose Alliance Membership Race Down To A Pair

Suddenly, this shit may actually matter.

The Wildrose Alliance Leadership is down to two contestants now that writer Jeff Willerton (who?) has pulled out and thrown his support behind chiropractor Mark Dyrholm (who?). Some speculation here as to whether the move was prearranged between the Willerton/Dyrholm camps, presumably to show that the momentum is behind Dyrholm.

Of course these things are decided by the party membership, and there are rumors floating around about how many the two remaining candidates, Dyrholm and front-runner Danielle Smith (who?), may actually have. There is also a rumor floating around that the Dyrholm campaign team has hidden at least 2000 new memberships from the party's leadership committee as "insurance".

The whippet-thin Dan Arnold has a good big-picture overview of what it all means.

And here's a series of posts I wrote earlier on the Dyrholm campaign's connections to the separatist WTBA, featuring a surprise appearance by Mark's Coalition/Outreach guy, Craig Chandler.

Chandler Strikes Back!

Mr. Craig Chandler responds to this morning's post:

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

TO: MJ Murphy
FROM: Craig B. Chandler,
Strategy / Coalition Outreach Chair,
Mark Dyrholm Campaign

This morning I read your blog and was quite disappointed.

I will go into a bit of detail because you are from Toronto and not residing here in Alberta. I understand that you may not really know the full facts.

Yesterday I responded to you after you posted that the Western Business and Taxpayer Association (WBTA) apparently endorsed Mark Dyrholm. I informed you that even Danielle Smith is receiving and endorsement from separatists and pointed to the http://www.themoderateseparatist.com/ as evidence.

My point in that was to show you something positive. If separatists are supporting Wildrose Alliance Party candidates this means we can eliminate the movement. If they feel all their provincial rights objectives can be met through an existing federalist party then we in Alberta have won against those that feel alienated. The Wildrose Alliance Party will welcome anyone who endorses our platform and we are seeing a great coalition of Albertans from all walks of life and all political stripes. We hope people such as David Crutcher (a close and personal friend) of the WBTA and Leigh Patrick Sullivan from The Moderate Separatist will realize that they can achieve their objectives in confederation. They are both good people, but, are wrong in their approach.

However, today you have written an article with some serious falsehoods and I do expect this letter to you to be posted in full on your blog.

* I did found Concerned Christians Canada (CCC) and Stephen Boissoin was a member and is still supported by many including Ezra Levant, John Carpay and many other credible conservatives. CCC did not settle with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Upon recieving dual complaints from the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the AHRC our lawyer suggested we settle at the federal level and continue our fight at the provincial level as not to waste resources. Although, I left the CCC many years ago I am well aware that this issue is currently before the Court of Queens Bench and will be making it's way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

* As for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council? Anyone can file a complaint and as you can see by visiting www.chandlerradionetwork.ca I am still on the air.

* I never filed a Human Rights complaint with Ed Stelmach or anyone. The CCC wanted to on my behalf, but, I asked them not to. I do not believe in the AHRC and feel Section 3 should be eliminated and this is Wildrose Alliance Part policy. To write otherwise is slanderous.

* As for the Collingwood Ethanol fight? You have no idea of what you write and I will not comment on this other then we represented industry in that fight and all is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

* However, what surprises me the most is your headline of Trouble Out West: PGIB Moves To Take Over Wild Rose Alliance? This is silly for so many reasons.

* All the people you mention are also members of the federal Conservative Party and most serve on boards for the federal conservatives. Even Rob Allen was a Campaign Manager for a federal Conservative in Brampton last federal election. Does that mean the federal Conservative Party is taking over the Wildrose Alliance? All that you mention are also members of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, does that mean the Calgary Chamber of Commerce is taking over the Wildrose Alliance? I could go on, but you get the point. The Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB) has a membership that is 70% supportive of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party does that mean we took them over? However, those that have decided to join and participate I encourage. Like I mentioned above the "... Wildrose Alliance Party will welcome anyone who endorses our platform and we are seeing a great coalition of Albertans from all walks of life and all political stripes".

* Disappointed, but, hey you are from Toronto and all you have done in your post is unite Albertans because we are sick and tired of Easterners manufacturing conflict and spreading misinformation.

Craig B. Chandler
Strategy / Coalition Outreach Chair
Committee To Elect Mark Dyrholm
Direct: 403-726-2371
Phone: 403-203-3456Fax: 403-273-2940
Web site: www.markdyrholm.ca
Twitter: www.twitter.com/markforleader
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Dyrholm/84882060781

Trouble Out West: PGIB Moves To Take Over Wild Rose Alliance?

Writing yesterday, I noted that the Separatist Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WBTA) had thrown its support behind Mark Dyrholm as leader of the Wild Rose Alliance. This prompted an email from Craig Chandler, Mark's Strategy/Coalition Outreach guy, pointing out that there were Western Separatists on all sides of the WRAP leadership race.

And I thought: Chandler, Crutcher, Dyrholm...where have I heard all these names together before? Turns out this gang go way back. For example, when the Wildrose & Alberta Alliance parties first merged, one of the slates for party executive of the new entity consisted of

Craig Chandler - VP Fundraising
Mark Dyrholm - VP Policy
David Crutcher - VP Membership
Harley Shouldice - Southern Regional Director
Don Leonardo - Southern Regional Director

When Crutcher ran for MLA under the banner of the Alberta Alliance, Chandler served as his campaign manager; when Chandler ran as an independent, Shouldice served as his campaign manager.

But the most important link between these gentlemen, and between the WTBA and Wild Rose Alliance, seems to be the The Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB). Here is a list of the folks on both the PGIB National Advisory Council and the Dyrholm campaign team:

Mark Dyrholm
Craig Chandler
Sid Helishauer
Harley Shouldice

And, as a bonus, it looks like WTBA policy guy Rob Allen is also A) a Member of PGIB, and B) on the Dyrholm team.

Interestingly enough, there's an Eastern connection here. The PGIB was born in Ontario during Chandler's university days. Its motto is "less government, lower taxes and political ccountability" , and it has at times taken credit for aspects of Mike Harris's Common Sense Revolution.

(Note: Mr. Chandler tells me I've got several things in this next bit wrong. For example, he is no longer associated with CCCI, and it was the CCCI that intended to launch a HR complaint on his behalf. I will leave the wording below as is, but go here for the correct account)

As for Chandler, who seems to be the driving force behind all of this (no matter what his official position in the various campaigns), one of the spin-off groups he founded is Concerned Christians Canada Inc. The infamous Stephen Boisson was once a member of this group (although I believe he was later disowned), and the letter that got Boisson in dutch with the AHRC was also published on the CCCI website, before Chandler settled with the commission and had it removed. He's also been in trouble with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

And perhaps most odd: although Chandler has complained vociferously about the HRC persecution of Christians, he himself filed an HRC complaint against the Stelmach Tories for...wait for it... their alleged bias against Christians. Although, to be fair, in his recent email to me Mr. Chandler says he has dropped this complaint on the grounds that it would be hypocritical for him to employ a government body that he does not approve of. Further, the CCCI is participating in Boisson's legal challenge against Alberta's hate speech laws.

Finally, the PGIP has been in the news recently, after Collingwood Ethanol, owned by Craig's father Bruce Chandler, got into trouble for its odoriferous emissions. The PGIP was called in to conduct what appears to have been a campaign of intimidation against anyone criticising the facility..a campaign that apparently backfired:

It's not that Craig Chandler and his buddy David Crutcher were loud and obnoxious: it's that they generally flooded the local airwaves with largely inflammatory and in some cases, grossly inaccurate statements.

However, held against the light of day, it was clear their comments were full more of bluster than fact. The first time I interviewed Crutcher, for instance, he claimed the mayor was "trying to get rid of all industry in Collingwood."When I challenged him on it, he backtracked and tried to put the focus on the mayor's perceived hate-on for the ethanol plant.

Outside of the glare of the media, these two, uh, 'gentlemen' persisted, through two phone messages and a letter to the community. A website, www.collingwoodpgib.ca, still lingers on the Internet (sadly, however, without a peep about the apology.)

Anyway, once again, good luck Mr. Dyrholm. With such allies, you will probably need it.

With Friends Like These...

Maybe hard to read, but all from the FreeD Facebook page: Bill Noble, Paul Fromm, and Craig Chandler. Mr. Noble is probably wondering how he got stuck next to those to putzes.

Has Western Separatist Leader Distanced Himself From Only Supporter?

I've written about the Western Business and Taxpayers Association (WBTA) several times here and here. This Western Separatist group consists of, at the moment, one confirmed member: old time Reform Party Stalwart David Crutcher.

Here's a screen cap of the WBTA's Executive Council from a couple of days ago:

Now, Buckets has also been keeping tabs these guys, and recently spied out another possible WTBA Member: Erik Gregson, another long time Reformer and associate of both Crutcher and Craig Chandler. Erik has been tasked with chairing WBTA's January convention and, since his email is policy@itstimetogo.ca, Buckets logically concluded that Mr. Gregson was slated for the position of "Policy Chair" on the WTBA Executive Council (note arrow above).

But wait! At the latest version of the WTBA EC page ,the position of policy chair has been entirely eliminated!!!

So are Crutcher and Gregson already on the outs? Has the nascent WBTA already begun to fragment along ideological lines--like who gets to be Supreme Commander on Tuesdays--or did they merely quarrel over who sits at the head of the official WTBA coffee table?

I'll be following this one closely in the days and weeks ahead.

As an aside, if you've ever wondered why these separatist groups tend to leave Manitoba out of their definition of The West, here is Mr. Crutcher on the topic:

Which division is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in?

David

And these guys wanted a separate Alberta to have its own fleet of nuclear submarines.

Mark, They Can't Do Everything For You

Mark Steyn is wondering why the CJC (Canadian Jewish Congress) won't take this guy to task for some pretty obvious Anti-Semitism. But I think he answers his own question: the CJC is busy.

However, here's a partial list of Conservative types who have been attempting to get their heads around the whole HRC thing by pursuing complaints through various provincial Rights bodies:

Hamilton Right to Life
Failed Alberta Tory Candidate Ron Leech.
Failed Alberta Tory Candidate Craig Chandler.

So there you have it. A pool of good Conservatives willing to play the system in the name of (in all three cases) Christianity. If Mark is too lazy to do up the paper-work, maybe he can farm out his complaints to one of these fellows and they can carry the torch on his behalf. The last two especially seem to have time on their hands, and what's the real difference between Judaism and Christianity other than a few books in the Bible and the fact the Judaic wardrobe is a lot more rockin'?

In any case, the most interesting fact here is that, as Conservatives learn more about HRC mechanisms (through the writings of Mark and others), the more they seem willing to be co-optd by them.

All is well in our dear old Nanny State.

More Speechies Hop HRC Bandwagon

HAMILTON, ONTARIO, April 2, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Hamilton Right to Life has taken the city of Hamilton to task for pulling a series of pro-life advertisements from its bus shelters. The pro-life group has filed a complaint with the OHRC stating that the city violated the right to freedom of expression and denied equal treatment and the right to contract on equal terms because of discrimination against its position on abortion.

These folks join rejected Alberta Tory candidates Craig Chandler and Ron Leech in attempting to right perceived wrongs though provincial Human Rights Commissions. In the latter two cases, the beef is that the Alberta Conservative Party discriminates against Christians.

And cases like this were, according to Speechy lore, are supposed to amount to the Apocalypse, where Lefties like myself get our comeuppance at the hands of Christians and other right-wingers striking back via the very state instruments that have been used against them. Hanging us with our own rope, as it were.

Well go ahead. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If the complaints noted above meet the criteria required for the HRCs to take action, then fine. If they do not--and I suspect they do not-- that just means that Christians, as well as Muslims and everyone else, are allowed to abuse the system with frivolous claims.

Incidentally, I don't find the image above particularly offensive. Hamilton was probably more worried about having their bus shelters vandalized by yahoos than about the explicit content of the posters.

Canadian Blogger Advocates Forced Sterilization

Peter Csillag, a member of the Blogging Tories, the "central hub for national conservative NGOs including the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the National Citizens Coalition", has suggested that Alberta's crime problems could be solved by reinstating the Sexual Sterilization Act :

The problem with the original act was that it was based on the biologically questionable concept of eugenics. A newer act would be based on making a long-term social investment. The system was not conducted fairly and sterilized a lot of people that shouldn't have been. IQ tests failed those who weren't proficient in the English language.

Rumour has it Peter will be debuting his National Post column in the space made vacant by Warren Kinsella's departure. Good luck Peter! And congratulations also to ex-Alberta Tory candidate Craig Chandler and Ezra Levant for recognising Peter's talent and agreeing to interviews with him.

h/t CC.

Conservatives Drink The HRC Koolaid!

Craig Chandler and now Alberta pastor Ron Leech are threatening to file complaints with the AHRC against the Alberta PC party. Their beef? PC ALBERTA CHRISTIAN BIAS REARS HEAD AGAIN

And why not?

Meanwhile, one of Warren's ex-employees pens a wonderful take down of Ezra and Mark and the whole Speechynista gang. I don't think you can link directly to the blog post, but go there and read the entry "The "Right to Offend" Movement". In my favorite bit, Mr. Omar Soliman points out Mr. Levant's rather tortured relationship to the Canadian Charter of Rights. From Ezra's remarks to the AHRC:

In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteed, quote: 2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: a) freedom of conscience and religion; b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
Those were even called “fundamental freedoms” – to give them extra importance.

But here's Ezra from 2005. I guess Freedom of Speech means freedom to contradict yourself whenever convenient.

More Fun With The CHRC

Edmonton Gay rights activist Rob Wells has been a busy man. Arguably the guy most responsible for scuttling Alberta Tory Craig Chandler's candidacy, Mr. Wells has, in quick succession, launched CHRC complaints against Christian Heritage Party leader Ron Gray, and now Catholic Insight magazine, for "targeting homosexuals".

In this case, I am not sure I have much sympathy for Mr. Wells. Strictly legal aspects of the case aside, I have never heard of Catholic Insight (although apparently Michael Coren writes a column for them). I would further wager that it is not on Mr. Wells usual reading list. Even assuming that the content is offensive in the manner suggested, his actions smack of deliberately seeking out reasons for outrage. Other than providing an excuse for an activist to stay active, what possible good will pursuing what is essentially a Catholic little magazine (the editors have described low circulation as being a chronic problem) do?