From red ties to blue: David Emerson and crossing the aisle
We’ve had a few posts now about former Liberal Cabinet Minister David Emerson leaving the Liberal Party to join the now governing Conservative Party and joining Stephen Harper’s cabinet. Matt related his defection to that of a baseball player switching sides after a bad inning [mbv] while it was old/classic Ryan who first dropped the news on us [mbv]. Meanwhile the CBC has been following the story as the Liberals have been demanding that Emerson give the campaign money they raised and spent on getting him elected back, and various people protest his switching teams [cbc].
Meanwhile Emerson being Strong Badish [hsr] is sticking to his guns:
Emerson says he plans to stay on with his new party and plans to run as Conservative in the next election.
He bristled at the suggestion that his defection showed a lack of respect for the voters and his campaign team in Vancouver-Kingsway.
“If you want to call it arrogance, go ahead, fill the newspaper with it. I don’t really care. I am pursuing the very agenda that I got involved to pursue when I was in the Liberal Party supporting Paul Martin. I’m continuing to pursue it. So if that’s arrogant to you, then so be it.”
Now I have to admit I was glad when Belinda switched from Conservatives to Liberals, so I’m not going to start throwing stones at Emerson. Still to have switched teams so soon after the election seems to have been… what’s the word… dickish.
I’m all for MPs switching over a matter of principal. That’s why we elect the person and not the party, or at least we’re supposed to. When Ontario MP Scott Brison switched from the Conservatives to the Liberals it was understandable [cbc]. As a member of the Conservative Party Brison was able to reconcile his openly gay lifestyle with the fiscally consvative policies of the old Tories. When the Alliance/Reform group joined and pushed the party to the social right, he no longer felt that his beliefs matched his party’s.
Fair engough and thumbs up to that defection. That’s why we have a Parliment and not a President. If you voted for Emerson and are now mad that he switched parties, you are partly to blame because we are supposed to vote for the person. If Emerson’s views match your own it shouldn’t matter what party he’s in, as long as he stays true to his own convictions.
DavidEmerson liberalpartyofcanada liberals conservativepartyofcanada Vancouver
I’m not sure I agree with that last point, Jeffery. Voters aren’t “supposed” to vote based on any criteria that you, I or anyone else sets out; they vote to create the outcome they want to see. If they want to vote for the party — especially in a Parliament where party discipline is more than a little significant — why shouldn’t they?
Besides, even if they are voting “for the person”, the underlying political values of that person are still pretty important, and Mr. Emerson did his best to convince people he was diametrically opposed to the values of Mr. Harper’s party — values his constituents also oppose. That’s a deception (and I don’t use that word lightly) he’ll find pretty hard to explain away.
Yes and no. You’re right there’s no one way anyone is supposed to vote. We could vote based on who has the best hair if we wanted.
But in Parliment in its truest form you vote for the person. Party discipline gets in the way of that, true, but one would hope that on an issue of great importance your MP would break party ranks if they were against something.
“he’ll find pretty hard to explain away”
Oh no doubt, and he won’t win next time I’m sure. But he’s well within his rights to do that, and calling foul is hard to do when the Liberals accepted Belinda with open arms.
Why don’t we just accept the fact that MPs are going to defect, and that way the Liberals can shut up now and then next time a Tory goes red the Conservatives be quiet about that. A MP crossing the aisle to their side is mana from heaven for a party, and its unreasonable to expect the party on the good end of the deal to be upset about it.
Again though a crossing like Brison’s based on deep convictions is easier to swallow than jumping ship in teh first week on the job after the election for a better office.
Wait a minute. Are you all sure you want to push Brison’s floor-crossing as a moment of great principle? Really sure? Because Scott Brison moved to the Liberals five days after voting in favour of the Alliance (nee Reform)-Conservative merger.
At least Dr. Em waited more than a week to betray his party!