UPDATED - Calgary Centre Watch: "Calgary Joe" takes on Joan Crockatt!

Rest assured, however, that his website, at least, makes it clear that "Calgary Joe", as the Gatineau-born, lifelong national capital region resident now styles himself, will back down from the fight to stop the NDP from meddling in Alberta's oil sands business:



In fact, he appears to be trying to pick a fight with rival Conservative contender and presumptive favourite Joan Crockatt, whose past comments on Belinda Stronach's departure from the Conservative caucus prompted a furious, if somewhat belated response from Team Vote4Joe accusing her of having "attacked" then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper.

Upon learning of this apparent treachery, albeit seven years after the fact, "Calgary Joe" was, we are advised, heard to muse thusly:

"I've always supported Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I had the honour and privilege of working for him. It is no surprise that our great Prime Minister is often unfairly attacked by partisan commentators and journalists in the main stream media. But what I am surprised about is that one of these commentators, who appears to have acted as spokesperson for Belinda Stronach after she went to the Liberals, now wants to be an MP in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's caucus. As a Conservative I would not be comfortable with having someone in caucus siding with Liberal Belinda Stronach and I would hope that Joan Crockatt has changed her views on the Prime Minister. I believe that what is important here in Calgary-Centre is to elect a real Conservative prepared to take a stand on issues important to Calgarians such as defending the Oil Sands from Quebec's Thomas Mulcair and his socialist wrecking crew, and ending gold-plated pensions for MPs."

UPDATE: Intrepid ipolitics.ca reporter Colin Horgan has more on the delicate question of residency -- specifically, whether "Calgary Joe" lives in the riding he hopes to represent.  According to "executive assistant" Milos Georgijev, the team "works out of Joe's apartment in the riding," which would suggest that the answer to the above question is yes, although it's not clear how long he's been there. 

Georgijev, for the record, is currently listed as president of the Toronto-based Glendon Conservatives, a campus club at York University. 

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Calgary lawyer Rick Billington served notice that he, too, has joined the field.

His official announcement, which was posted to his firm's website last night, notes that he is not just a "long serving director" of the prime minister's very own riding association in neighbouring Calgary Southwest but six-time Master of Ceremonies of the PM's annual Stampede barbecue. Has "Calgary Joe" ever been spotted at Stampede, let alone the PMBBQ?

Over at his campaign website, meanwhile, it appears that Billington has already managed to rack up on-the-record endorsements: former Calgary Centre MP Harvie Andre, Manitoba Senator Don Plett and Kildonan-St. Paul MP Joy Smith.

Interestingly, Billington's site also states that August 2nd -- today -- is the last day to join the party to be able to vote for their candidate of choice.

According to the party rules [PDF], only those who have been party members for at least 21 days can take part in a nomination meeting, which would peg August 23 as E-Day, although that has yet to be confirmed by the riding association.

In any case, I've checked with Conservative Party HQ to find out if that is, indeed, the case. I'll let you know what, if anything, I hear back. 

Finally, the Online Party of Canada has reportedly filed the necessary paperwork to run candidates in both the Calgary Centre and Durham byelections. Will their commenters members have elected a leader by the time those B-Days roll around? Stay tuned!