Armymatters said:
http://www.cbc.ca/bc/story/bc_emerson20060209.html
See the video link of "Terry Milewski and Alan Waterman report for CBC TV's CanadaNow on the reaction to Emerson's move"
You see, people voted for a Liberal, not a Conservative.
It is rather sad in a way that everyone has forgotten that:
a. Parties have no official or constitutional standing in government, and :
b. You vote for a PERSON to represent your riding in Parliament.
It is hard to imagine a world without political parties, but in their simplest form, people with like interests would join together for common causes to put more "horsepower" on their side. The current political idiom of "Left" and Right" is an accident of history (Nobles and clergy tended to sit on the right side of the French Assembly), even here you see a clear grouping of common interests in the time of Louis XV. I suspect if you could somehow observe the ancient Athenian assembly or Roman Senate during the Res Publica, you would also see party like groupings. Political parties are not mentioned or given any constitutional standing in the Anglosphere, and usually the only place a party is given constitutional standing is in a one party state (Read the constitution of the USSR for example).
The scary part of your comment is that it essentially does not matter to people in your riding (or evidently you) who is dropped in to represent you, only their obedience to the Liberal Machine seems to be important given the nature of your posts and the reaction of the riding association and an unknown number of voters. If that is the case, suppose that I run in your riding as a candidate for the Liberal Party? Knowing my opinion of various political matters from my posts it is quite evident that I do not actually believe in anything they stand for, but nevertheless, do you still vote for me because of the Party I represent? (notice to new posters/readers, I am a small l libertarian, this would never happen in real life).
The optics of the defection are unfortunate, but there is an important difference between the Stronich case and this one; Stronich was inticed to come over as a desperate move to hang on to power for the sake of hanging on (this was the same government which also ignored a vote of no confidence), while Prime Minister Harper already has power, and is exercising it to advance his five point platform. If you want a prediction, several more Liberals will probably cross the aisle in the spring since they don't like being in opposition. If you want my opinion, Prime Minister Harper should be openly courting some of the smarter NDP and Bloc MPs to increase the size of the talent pool and provide more regional representation on the government side of the aisle. Since Cabinet ministers can be selected from outside the sitting Caucus, if and when there is a cabinet shuffle, maybe some outside viewpoints can be sought out and included. I am available
, but there are plenty of smart. willing people who might agree to work for the nation for a short period of time.