Good on you Garth
My hat is off to Garth Turner a former Conservative MP and now an Independent MP. Why the change, well he had the utter gall, the temerity , the nerve to disagree with his party and to do so publicly in his blog The Turner Report. The result? He was unceremoniously booted out of the Conservative caucus this week.
So, knowing my political proclivities one might be inclined to ask why I’m doffing my hat to a Conservative, a party I despise, I hold in utter contempt?
“I have said here many times, and consistently since I was elected this last time, that I work for the voters - the people, the taxpayers. After that I heed my party and the political establishment. All are important, of course, but the people come first.”
Not only did he say it but he lived it which is something damn few politicians do.
And people, seems to me, want political leaders and MPs who look at every opinion, chew over ever idea, kick every notion, and then decide what’s best. The older I get and the more people I run into, the more I understand this is not a black-and-white world. Despite the yelling in Question Period. Despite the events of today in the caucus room.
So, being kicked out of the Conservative Party is unfortunate, and I’ll be going back to my riding soon to explain things to those voters who wanted a Tory to represent them. But no party - in fact, none of us - has a lock on perfection. The irony is that I’ve been a Conservative longer than most people who call themselves that these days, and my beliefs have not changed. Idid not leave my party, or my convictions, at the caucus room door.
He’s doing what an elected official is supposed to do and that is put his electorate ahead of his party. Would that we had more politicians with the cojones to do that. I no doubt disagree with many of his political beliefs but I certainly respect his position. The man seems to have an inherent sense of fairness as this blog entry illustrates. He does not exemplify the Conservative Party of Canada. Mores the pity that is.
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