The Politics Ranter

Maclean’s has a good article on the whole potential Conservative-NDP alliance.

I suppose the other side is that now the Cons might have to pander to the NDP, as happened with the Liberal budget, but I think the NDP has more to gain by not having an election anytime soon (sad to say, but they’d lose seats for sure) and as an extension of that, propping up the government. They both need each other, really. It’s kind of scary.

From The Star:

There has been a lot of speculation in the last couple of months that NDP Leader Jack Layton might keep the Tory government alive in exchange for tougher environmental measures. Theoretically, an NDP-Tory alliance could have enough seats in the Commons – 154 – to win any non-confidence vote in the government.

Way to sell out, NDP. My disillusionment with the NDP has been growing lately, and this is the wost part of why. Other reasons including Jack Layton’s constant grandstanding. (No one will take you seriously, Jack, if you’re constantly blustering about everything, yet not really knowing what you’re saying. See: Afghanistan.)

Via Paul Wells and The Star, news on the defection of Wajid Khan from the Liberals to the Conservatives. The whole thing blew up because Stephane Dion gave Khan an ultimatum. Dion rightly thought it was odd that a Liberal MP was acting as an advisor to a Conservative PM. Had no one in the Liberal party realized this earlier? As Dion pointed out, this guy was working for the government and the opposition. You have about zero credibility as an opposition doing that. Maybe the Liberals were too busy with their epic, circus-show leadership race to notice what was going on within the party itself. I’m glad Dion finally did something – kind of. It put an end to the double-dipping, but it also caused Khan to cross the floor. And what does that mean? Well, as The Star points out:

Khan’s defection brings the minority government ranks to 125 MPs, meaning the Conservatives need only the co-operation of the 29-member NDP caucus to pass legislation.

Eek.

This is why I have such a problem with floor-crossings. I have no idea why it’s allowed, especially with the way our electoral system works. In a system like ours (i.e. where we elect riding reps and then the party that has the most reps elected sees their leader become PM) crossing the floor basically spits on the whole way it functions. When the people in Khan’s riding elected him, they were voting not just for him, but for a Liberal PM. Khan’s defection essentially changes their collective vote to a vote for Stephen Harper. It changes the make-up of Parliament. One person should not have the power to do that – especially since he’s supposed to be representing what the people in his riding want, and they wanted a Liberal MP.

I understand that perhaps people change, or their party changes, and some MPs might not be able to stand the thought of sitting for their party any longer. Fine. Then you have a by-election. Each party gets to run someone, and voters still get to decide who represents them. Khan’s floor-crossing a big “F You” to his constituents and I hope they remember that when election time comes.