Quick, Grab the Popcorn

If this complaint actually goes anywhere, it's going to be positively grand comic theatre.

It seems that Concerned Christians Canada is going to play puppet for Chandler's threatened human rights complaint:

Concerned Christians Canada says it's going to file a human rights complaint against Premier Ed Stelmach and Progressive Conservatives.
National Chair Jim Blake tells QR77's Dave Rutherford the complaint stems from the premier's decision to replace a couple of tory candidates in Calgary - Craig Chandler and Ron Leech.
The group claims both have been rejected as candidates because of their religious views.

Hrmmm...I have to wonder about how strong this complaint is going to be. Chandler's clearly got his people trying to make it look like a broader issue than just the issue of his nomination, but rather has been systemically applied to other "religious" candidates. Even though Jim Blake is ostensibly independent of Mr. Chandler, he is a long-time associate of Chandler's and has popped up with an amazing predictability speaking in favor of Chandler's position. (Whatever that might happen to have been)

From the perspective of Chandler's specific case, it's pretty hard to make a compelling case that "religious beliefs" are the sole and primary cause of why his nomination was rejected. The final decision in the Boissoin case, and two other related cases which hardly went in Chandler's favour, provide a pretty strong case upon which to base a position that Chandler simply had too much political "baggage" to be a viable candidate. (and certainly, opposition parties would have a field day tying the Boissoin case to the PCs had Chandler's nomination gone forward)

As for Mr. Leech, PC party is claiming that he was rejected due to problems with the nomination process. So, the basis upon which the claim is being made in his case remains to be seen.

Frankly, this little endeavor is likely doomed to failure - not because HRCs are biased against Christians, but because there is relatively little to work with. About the only thing in the mix that I can't adequately account for is the meeting Chandler had with PC party leadership in Red Deer. There might be some fodder in there, but whether that outweighs the other material already in the public domain is hard to guess.

As I said in an earlier post on the subject, I actually am looking forward to this case going through its due process. Regardless of the outcome, it deserves an open hearing.