After seventeen long years, everything came to an end for Rob Anders, the MP for Calgary-West, on Saturday night.
Anders was defeated by former Alberta MLA Ron Liepert, who will represent the Conservative Party in the new federal riding of Calgary-Signal Hill in the 2015 general election.
Liepert says that he and his supporters did what they came to do. “We achieved the goal we set out to do. That was to re-engage Conservative voters in the riding.”
As for Anders, he says he is going to continue working and fight for the taxpayers in his riding.
He was the centre of a number of public gaffes over the years, including criticized for falling asleep during a Veterans Affairs meeting, and opposing making Nelson Mandela an honourary Canadian citizen.
Anders did have the support of Stephen Harper and local MP Jason Kenney.
David Taras, a politicial scientist with Mount Royal University, says that it’s hard to tell if Anders has a future in politics.
“There are many people, there are many interest groups who really believe in his causes and have supported him. Maybe he goes to those groups. As for another position in government, it’s hard to know. Certainly, he could be appointed to a Board of Commission by the Prime Minister but, whether he’ll come back in the election, there are very few open seats in Calgary. There’s now a staggered list of people who want those seats and I’m not sure how welcome he’d be in those contests.”
Anders’ riding of Calgary-West, and job, stays in place until the next federal election.
At that time, the riding will be abolished.
