By silencing grassroots Conservatives who are dissatisfied with MP Rob Anders, Stephen Harper has embraced the old politics he said he would fix.

Over the weekend, Harper’s Conservative Party took the unprecedented step of assuming control of the riding association in Calgary West to silence rank-and-file Conservatives who want to remove Anders as their party’s candidate.

Coming on the heels of the undemocratic shuttering of Parliament, Harper is under fire for agreeing to muzzle members of his own party:

“For the Prime Minister to treat rival parties with disdain is part of the political blood sport. But to stomp on his own party members for daring to peep in protest at their low-calibre representative is an example of excessive control when member choice should prevail …” – Don Martin, Calgary Herald, 9 February 2010

What’s worse, is that Stephen Harper promised to close the book on the era of Liberal Prime Ministers running roughshod over local ridings:

“A Prime Minister demeans local democracy when he parachutes a candidate into a riding over the objections of the local members.” – Stephen Harper, Speech, 14 December 2005

“A Conservative government will … Prevent party leaders from appointing candidates without the democratic consent of local electoral district associations.” - Conservative Party of Canada Platform, 2006, p. 44

More and more the real Stephen Harper is coming into view. Whether it is novelty cheques emblazoned with the Conservative logo, partisan interference in freedom of information, patronage appointments to government jobs, or now demeaning local democracy, the Harper Conservatives are proving no change from the old politics of the past.