OTTAWA (CP) — Outspoken MP Garth Turner, elected last January as a Conservative, is joining the federal Liberals.
Turner, who has been sitting as an Independent since he was turfed from the Conservative ranks in the fall, was to make the official announcement Tuesday afternoon at a news conference with Opposition Leader Stephane Dion.
The floor-crossing won’t materially change the balance of power in the minority Parliament, where Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government can control the House with the assistance of any one of the three opposition parties.
But Turner’s move to the Liberal bench is bound to further inflame bitterly partisan divisions in the Commons.
Wajid Khan, a former Liberal MP, defected to the Tories last month.
Turner, also a Toronto-area MP, was suspended indefinitely from the Conservative government caucus in October after repeatedly criticizing party policy and the actions of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Those criticisms began exactly a year ago, when Turner publicly lampooned the defection to Harper’s first cabinet of former Liberal David Emerson.
At the time, Turner argued on his weblog that MPs who defect to another party should have to run for re-election under their new party in a byelection.
“If you want to be a Liberal, be elected as a Liberal. All those things have honour but the honour is bestowed by the people, not by the individual.”
A Liberal source said Turner is “absolutely not” going to resign his Halton seat and run for re-election in a byelection.
Turner also argued against reopening the same-sex marriage debate and was in favour of tougher gun laws — policy positions that put him in direct conflict with Harper.
After being bounced by a Tory caucus that felt he couldn’t be trusted to maintain party confidences, Turner initially mused about joining the Green party to become its first MP in the Commons.
Rumours of Turner’s jump to the Liberals surfaced last week. Although he firmly denied a move was imminent, Turner said life as an Independent MP was wearing on him.
“I’m not as effective as an Independent,” Turner said in an interview last week.
“I can’t even work on parliamentary committees. I can’t issue tax receipts for donations. There are certain drawbacks, so I owe it to my constituents to talk to everybody. So I’m in that process.”
Ironically, the Liberal candidate that Turner defeated last Jan. 23 in the riding of Halton was Gary Carr, himself a former Progressive Conservative MPP in the Ontario legislature.
With Turner’s move, the new standings in the House of Commons will be: Conservatives 125, Liberals 101, Bloc Quebecois 51, NDP 29, and one independent; there is one vacancy.
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