By Stephen Gray
Why all the fuss about the latest floor crossing politician. He is still a Liberal/Conservative and supports “liberal values.” He even said he joined a “moderate” Conservative Party. Surely everyone knows what “moderate” means by now? Translated it means no danger to the status quo. Just carrying on an old “principle” like appointing senators. And crossing the floor to take a cabinet position. Heck, its almost as if the Liberal Party is still in power. No wonder many big names are not running for the Liberal leadership. How can you run against a party that does similar things that you did and puts down the welcome mat for a political floor crosser, and also appoints an instant senator to an important portfolio. The appointed and the anointed take precedent over the elected party members. Hey, some of these real Conservatives must be wondering why they even bothered running for election, when a floor crossing Liberal, and an non-elected appointee from the most favored province, gets first class positions. Could these be called political compromising positions?
The position some people cannot understand is: Why are the people of this floor crosser’s riding upset? They voted for a Federal Liberal Party that has been accused of political malfeasance. Millions of theirs and our tax dollars are still missing over AdScam, so the question to them might be: If the Liberal Party was ethically and morally challenged, why are they surprised at this betrayal by a Liberal crossing the floor to the Conservative Party? Does this not show Liberal consistency? And why are they upset? After all the floor crosser did say he would be the “worst enemy” of the leader of the Conservative Party. So why are these people annoyed? They now have a guy on the inside. What could be better than that? Who knows he might even run for the Conservative leadership someday!! Hey, it doesn’t get much better than this. So be patient you Liberals in this floor crosser’s constituency. It’s only political business. In fact one talk show host was heard to say about the floor crosser: “He thought of this as a business deal.” To which a cynic might say, “monkey business” would be a more appropriate comment. And a defender of this floor crosser to the Conservatives wrote; “when the barnyard has to be cleaned up, everybody gets a bit dirty.” He’s right on the political farm with that one. Now both political parties are covered in manure. Still another big wig in the Conservative party had this to say about Mr. Floor Crosser: "I said to… [him], 'Listen, you have to look at it very simply. The premier of this province, every key business group and person has been on the phone, on the radio, to the media, saying, 'Hey, this is a great move.'" Wow, what does this say about the “ethics” and “principles” of the powerful? And another Tory politician who welcomed his new floor crossing colleague to the “conservative” party had this to say: “Loyalty is a scarce commodity in public life.” No kidding!! That apt comment surely sums it all up.
Anyway, one must not get too cynical, politics is one of the oldest and honorable professions, that’s why politicians get the title “honorable.” Mind you this election was supposed to be about a “fresh start” and a “new way” of doing politics. And it was said that “ethics” and “principles” would replace the old way of doing things. The election campaign was all about “change” and “standing up for Canada.” Well, this guy did “change” and he did “stand up,” he crossed the floor and joined the others who were “standing up for Canada.” He now has the title “honorable member” of the Conservative Party, but he did say, there was not much difference between the two parties and there is nothing “superficial” about that. Even though his “new” party has a different name from his old one, one wonders is the political brand still the same?
Stephen Gray
February 12, 2006.
graysinfo@yahoo.ca Website: http://www.oocities.org/graysinfo