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Conservatives are at it again, trying to unseat the weirdo MP from Calgary West, Rob Anders. Why do they even bother? Don’t they realize there’s no chance?

They need only look at the history. Anders is challenged frequently but beats back the malcontents every time. It may well be, as seasoned commentator Don Martin maintains, that he is Canada’s worst MP. It may be, as one writer put it, that in a Commons loaded with lightweights, this guy defies gravity.

But it doesn’t matter. The point is that Anders has Stephen Harper on his side — and that’s all it takes.

The prime minister has gone to bat for him so often that some have been given to wonder if Anders has something on him. That’s not the case. But there is a significant backstory here — one with a long hangover.

Mr. Harper represented Calgary West from 1993 up to 1997, when he stepped out of politics and Anders, then only 25, took over the riding. Before Harper, Jim Hawkes, a Progressive Conservative, held the constituency. Harper worked for Hawkes but then abandoned him, ran against him on the Reform ticket and won.

It was a bitter family feud and animosities between moderates in the riding and core Conservatives remained. Harper wants the riding to stay out of Red Tory hands and has gone to great lengths to make sure of it.

The most egregious example came in the run-up to the 2011 election. Donna Kennedy-Glans, a feminist lawyer, led an aggressive campaign to wrest the nomination from Anders, someone she considered a racist. Kennedy-Glans and her supporters won control of the riding executive. They planned a referendum at the next general meeting to show that Anders no longer had support.

Though it’s been a long time since the Hawkes-Harper rift, it seems likely that Harper would prefer hardliner Anders to keep the nomination if he senses a moderate tilt among the challengers.

It all sounded democratic enough — until party central in Ottawa got into the action. It disallowed the annual meeting and seized control of the riding membership list, of the funds, of the offices. The Kennedy-Glans bid was crushed.

By way of explanation, the party said she was too liberal. She was very moderate, more moderate than Jim Hawkes. But did that mean it was okay to resort to an anti-democratic, banana-republic operation to get her out of the way?

In the 2006 election Anders was accused of bending the rules to claim the nomination, so much so that the matter went to court after the campaign. The party sided with Anders all the way, sending in a high-profile lawyer to defend him. But a judge ruled against Anders and ordered the party to run an open and fair nomination prior to the next election.

In the latest nomination challenge, Anders is tarring those who want him thrown out as Red Tory types who want to put together a progressive coalition of Liberals and New Democrats to win the nomination. “The Red Tories are like a flu that just won’t go away,” Anders said.

Though it’s been a long time since the Hawkes-Harper rift, it seems likely that Harper would prefer hardliner Anders to keep the nomination if he senses a moderate tilt among the challengers.

Prime ministers and party leaders of all stripes regularly step in to anoint their preferred candidates in certain ridings. That’s given Harper a rationalization of sorts — even in the case of an MP who has fallen asleep on duty on more than one occasion, who suggested Nelson Mandela was a terrorist, who compared the 2008 Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Games.

Given his low polling numbers, many in the party would like to see Harper address his gaping democratic deficit. That doesn’t appear to be in the cards. We’re not likely to see him change the party’s approach to Calgary West.

More significantly, it appears that he is not going to support reform proposals brought forward by caucus member Michael Chong which would lessen the power of the prime minister and give more power to MPs. Despite a lot of favourable publicity attracted by the proposals, Harper has said he has had little time to look at them. His ministers, for the most part, have pooh-poohed them.

It might turn out to be a golden opportunity missed. Though change is sorely needed — in Calgary West and elsewhere — don’t bet on it.

Lawrence Martin is the author of 10 books, including six national bestsellers. His most recent, Harperland, was nominated for the Shaughnessy Cohen award. His other works include two volumes on Jean Chrétien, two on Canada-U.S. relations and three books on hockey.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.