So I kept out of this Belinda Stronach thing last week to see how it would play out. For our American friends, what basically happened last week is that one-vote win by our Conservative party (your Republicans) and their allegiances turned into a one-vote win by our Liberal party (your Democrats) and their allegiances. This happened when one fairly high-profile Conservative, and the second place finisher in the party leadership race last year, jumped ship and joined the Liberal party. I believe something similar happened in 2001 for in the States when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords from Vermont jumped to the Democrats during a disagreement with George Bush’s war.
Obviously I’m a Conservative, I don’t attempt to disguise that here. My problem here, however, isn’t as simple as “she stole the vote”. I can actually understand someone disagreeing with the direction of their party, or with the leader of the party. I can even understand an MP (Senator) resigning from their party to sit as an Independent, and would have had respect for that decision. Where I lose respect is when you jump to the very party you’ve told your constituents and everyone else is wrong, corrupt, and the polar opposite of what you’ve claimed to believe. That’s when it goes from a legitimate problem with your party to opportunistic politics. The truth is Belinda Stronach barely won her election, even with the media on her at all times. She would be incapable of leading a party, and her party knew that, and it’s true she had no future there. Perhaps we expected too much from someone with the initials B.S. Regardless, I’m sure the friendly folks of Newmarket/Aurora will get a chance to have their say when the merely postponed election takes place later this year. Enjoy.
Cheers!