Petition started to remove MP Rob Anders from office

A Calgary man has launched a petition calling for the removal of Calgary MP Rob Andersfrom office.

It comes after Anders announced he wants tostop Bill C279, a private member's bill thatamends the Canadian Human Rights Act and hate crime section of the Criminal Code to include "gender identity" and "gender expression" as grounds for discrimination.

Harris Kirschenbaum says supporting Rob Anders is something he just can't do, so he launched a petition on change.org, calling for Anders to be removed from office.

Kirschenbaum, who's campaigned for the provincial Liberals in the past, says the petition may not amount to anything, but it's a start.

"I think the only thing that would make that happen would be a petition with a significant number of signatures on it and that number would have to be, in this case particularly, that number would have to be a pretty huge number."

But in this case, the number of votes may not matter.

According to the library of parliament research publications, once a person is elected to the House of Commons, there are no constitutional provisions to have them removed from office.

A member can be removed if they are convicted and sentenced for an indictable offence.