Further Pre-Emption for Garth Turner

Of course I'd like to continue the posts on Israel, but I feel I have to weigh in on the biggest issue in Canadian politics today. So, Garth Turner is now a Liberal. Let me just say that I have nothing against floor-crossing. It is a part of politics and Garth Turner, Wajid Khan, and David Emerson all have the right to do what they did (even if Emerson's was slightly more underhanded in method Turner's was slightly less). However, I must go against the Liberal grain on this one. Garth Turner becoming a Liberal makes little to no sense policy-wise. The man is pretty much a libertarian, except for the fact that he is massive environmentalist. More to that, he has expressed symptoms of social conservatism as well. We can pull out the "big tent" slogan if we like, but including Garth is a pretty wide tent. That said, I am more than happy to see the Liberal ranks grow. Its simple politics. More people = more votes. And that is what this is about from the Liberal point of view. What is it about from the Garth point of view? More money for an election? I don't buy it. Had he joined the Green Party, I'm sure they would have jumped at the opportunity to fund their best chance at victory. The only thing Garth gets out of being a Liberal is sitting on committee and potentially sitting in Government again. Of course, everyone wants to sit in Government. Its been said that for a political party, the worst day in Government is still better than the best day in Opposition. But I believe this is more about the committees. Garth said from the day he left the Conservative Party that what he will miss most of all will be sitting on the finance committee. This is a way back on for him. If he had joined the Greens, he could not have done that. They would have need 15 (I believe) seats to get the ability to assign committee members. That is unlikely to happen while Garth is still in the House. What this comes down to is just unfortunate. I've always been a supporter of independents. I think it takes balls to sit outside a party banner. But Garth's decision shows that the restriction put on independents in the House can prove to be too much for some of them, thus forcing them to latch on to the closest party available to them. For Garth that was the Liberal Party.

Having said all that, I welcome the Liberal Party of Canada's newest Member of Parliament, Garth Turner.