Calgary MP Rob Anders apologized for suggesting current NDP leader Thomas Mulcair helped kill his predecessor Jack Layton but Calgarians weren’t letting him off the hook that easily.
The response to the remarks by embattled Calgary MP, who happens to be no stranger to controversy and foot-in-mouth disease, was swift.
@hobbesbruce @huffpostalberta Rob Anders is a knuckle dragging, fecal matter flinging animal with the IQ of a gerbil.
— Kikki Planet (@KikkiPlanet) October 1, 2012
Others lamented the fact that as Calgary, and Alberta as a whole, start shedding their ‘red neck’ stereotypes, Anders again managed to turn back the clock and cement the anti-progressive brand that Alberta has long been saddled with.
Just when leaders like @premier_redford and @nenshi start to dent stereotypes about #yyc political views, Rob #Anders speaks up. Sigh.
— Laurie Stretch (@LStretch) October 1, 2012
The anger permeated Twitter, comments boards and Facebook.
Ray King posted on The Huffington Post Alberta Facebook page: "Rob Anders, quite possibly one if the most mentally and socially handicapped people to ever be elected as an MP in Canadian history. Way to go Calgary!"
Dave Drabiuk added, "I have suddenly lost all respect for 57.4% of the voters in Calgary West; Rob Anders sure makes the good ones have to work that much harder to get the collective paint off."
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Anders periodically comes under fire for what many consider his ultra-right wing beliefs and for speaking out of turn.
No stranger to leaving Canadians gasping, Anders is probably most famous for calling Nelson Mandela a Communist and a terrorist and was the only Parliamentary to have voted against making the South African human rights leader and former president an honourary Canadian in 2001.
Most recently, Anders was booted out off a veterans committee this spring after he called committee members NDP "hacks" who praised Vladimir Putin, after they claimed publicly that Anders fell asleep during committee presentations. The members he attacked are Canadian Forces members who volunteer their own time and money to help homeless veterans.
He has also been at the centre of several public squabbles with his own riding association – Calgary West – after the group tried to nominate other candidates to represent the riding. In 2010, 24 of the 32-member riding board quit over the dispute.
An online initiative to vote Anders out has met with little success.
Some of Anders' more notorious verbal bombs:
