NDP MP defects to Liberals - more to come?

[The Green Barbarian]

Rumours are afoot that with Layton gone the federal NDP is starting to fall apart. Is Lise St-Denis the first of many to cross over to the Liberals?

NDP MP Lise St-Denis defects to the Liberals

OTTAWA— Lise St-Denis, an NDP member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of Saint-Maurice—Champlain, is defecting to the Liberals.

St-Denis was elected as part of the NDP’s “orange wave” in the last federal election, and says her decision was made over the past few weeks after hearing Liberal speeches in the House of Commons.

She says she was impressed by the Liberals’ “sense of duty” to the country and found herself growing more uncomfortable within the NDP caucus over the fall, as she realized she didn’t share their views on a number of issues.

“This wasn’t a decision made blindly or lightly,” St.-Denis said. “I believe the Liberals are in a better position, have more experience and can do a better job of defending Quebec’s place in Canada, in the confederation, than other parties.”

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae says he started talking to St-Denis in late December, after the session ended in the Commons.

“I was struck by her sincerity and her integrity,” he said Tuesday morning at an Ottawa press conference to announce the defection.

Candidly, St-Denis admitted that she had never expected to be elected when she ran for the NDP in last spring’s federal election.

Equally candidly, she said she wasn’t elected on her own strength, but on that of the late NDP leader Jack Layton.

“They voted for Jack Layton. Jack Layton died,” St.-Denis said when asked how her constituents would feel about her changing parties.

Though Rae cautioned against seeing larger trends in this one floor-crossing, St-Denis’s defection will almost inevitably be seen as a measure of both parties’ prospects in Quebec and the larger country.

The “orange wave” in the last election was hailed as evidence that the New Democrats were on the way to supplanting the Liberals as the strongest opposition to the ruling Conservatives.

But after last fall’s session of Parliament, reviews for the Liberals’ performance have been generally high, while disappointing for the New Democrats and interim leader Nycole Turmel. St-Denis’s defection seals that impression and gives a boost to the federal Liberals as they enter their big convention in Ottawa this week.

Nor is St.-Denis convinced that anything will improve with the selection of a successor to Layton in late March — even though she was a caucus supporter of Tom Mulcair’s bid for the leadership.

“I don’t know if anything’s going to change if I wait,” she said.

The NDP currently has 102 seats in the House — 59 MPs from Quebec. The Liberals have just 34 seats, with only seven MPs from Quebec. St.-Denis said she didn’t bargain or even speak to the NDP while mulling her decision to switch parties, only serving notice to Turmel and NDP adviser Karl Belanger on Tuesday morning.

New Democrat MP Guy Caron, who chairs the Quebec caucus for his party, came out swinging against what he called an “obviously very disappointing” decision by his former caucus colleague.

“Changing political affiliation is a blatant lack of respect for democracy. It encourages cynicism towards politicians,” Caron told a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday shortly after St-Denis announced her defection.

“If the Liberals think it is what the voters of the riding want, we challenge them to run Mme. St-Denis in a by-election,” Caron said, echoing a longstanding NDP policy proposal that would force anyone wishing to switch political parties to vacate their seat and face the electorate. “In any way, at the end it will be up to the voters of her riding to judge her actions.”

Caron dismissed the notion that Quebecers had voted only for Layton or that the desire to defect would spread throughout the NDP caucus.

“It was a personal decision and it doesn’t reflect the general spirit of our caucus,” Caron said. “What we need to understand is that people voted for Mr. Layton, yes, but they also voted for the values that he was promoting.”

The NDP has pushed for legislation for several years now that would force would-be defectors to resign and face a by-election if they wanted to change parties. St.-Denis said she did not weigh this as one of her options before joining the Liberals.

Caron also downplayed the loss of St-Denis by suggesting she was not among the rising stars of newly elected NDP MPs from Quebec, but also said this had little to do with the fact that she had done little campaigning or had not expected to win.

“There are some people who campaigned more and others who campaigned less and in both cases we find excellent MPs,” Caron said.

St.-Denis is no newcomer to the New Democrats — she volunteered on the party’s women’s commission for the past decade.

But she said that the issues she dealt with as a volunteer were very different than the ones she confronted as a legislator, and she came to realize she was offside with the NDP caucus on subjects such as the Senate, on Canada’s military intervention in Libya and on public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects.

“I never believed I would be elected, that’s true,” she said. “I didn’t imagine it would be as it was — not because they (the NDP caucus) are bad or they don’t work well. It’s because I don’t agree with the attitude they took on certain ideas.”

St-Denis, 71, a former schoolteacher, announced last summer that she was battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that affects the lymphatic system. She said she is still undergoing treatment, but she feels fine and says she has enough energy to enter the winter session — which starts later this month — in her new position as a Liberal MP for Quebec.

Her riding was once held by former prime minister Jean Chretien. St.-Denis said she had spoken to Chretien in November, but the subject of defection never arose. Chretien, for his part, has been talking up the prospect of merger between the Liberal and New Democrats for the past year or so.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/111 ... erals?bn=1

[Rwede]

Looney bin #1 or looney bin #2.

Not a heck of a lot of difference, IMO.

Probably some sort of golden handshake (or promise) for getting the headlines, you can bet on that!

[The Green Barbarian]

Looney bin #1 or looney bin #2.

Not a heck of a lot of difference, IMO.

Probably some sort of golden handshake (or promise) for getting the headlines, you can bet on that!

But she said that the issues she dealt with as a volunteer were very different than the ones she confronted as a legislator, and she came to realize she was offside with the NDP caucus on subjects such as the Senate, on Canada’s military intervention in Libya and on public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects.

About sums it up - she, like many MP's, never thought she would get elected, ran as a favour to someone, and then when she did get elected and started going to caucus meetings, she probably had a "uh-huh" moment when she heard the die-hard socialists talking their usual gibberish and realized she was surrounded by nuts with a vision that would destroy Canada. "Get me out of here" is probably the first thing she thought after an hour of listening to that nonsense. There have to be more coming behind her, there just have to be - there is no way they can keep that party going without Jack there to spin the bull only he could spin to keep it from falling apart.

[NAB]

One wonders if the Federal Liberals have moved so far to the left now that they are very hard to differentiate from the NDP.

Nab

[Urbane]

One wonders if the Federal Liberals have moved so far to the left now that they are very hard to differentiate from the NDP.

Nab

Indeed. And that's why a former NDP Premier, Bob Rae, fits right in as leader of the Liberal Party.

[The Green Barbarian]

One wonders if the Federal Liberals have moved so far to the left now that they are very hard to differentiate from the NDP.

Nab

Indeed. And that's why a former NDP Premier, Bob Rae, fits right in as leader of the Liberal Party.

and why "Multi-billion" Bob is pushing for a merger.

[sooperphreek]

this has less to do with the political philosophies of a party and more to do with the base human instinct of looking out for number one. this person obviously wants to stay in politics and get the sweet pension. and if they are looking out for themselves that way then yes of course they dont belong in jack's ndp party. he was more in it for socialist principles and doing for the people. the next thing you know this person will jump ship to the conservatives. it doesnt matter what party it is.......it is all just a game.

[LoneWolf_53]

So sooperfreak I imagine you totally missed the part about her not even expecting to win in the election, as well as her age?

She's a professional, and no, not a professional politician, not to mention at 71yrs old I'm thinking she already gets a pension.

It's one thing to have an opinion and take shots at politicians, but it's another thing to do it based on some actual knowledge of the person, rather than your stereo typical approach. Fail!

[sooperphreek]

no fail at all. she shouldnt have run as an ndp but she probably did knowing that was the best way to get elected. now she is in and jumps ship. its lame and shows how little integrity we have in society in this day and age.

[The Green Barbarian]

she shouldnt have run as an ndp but she probably did knowing that was the best way to get elected. now she is in and jumps ship. .

Wow - you should read the actual article Soop. The riding was once Chretien's, meaning it was a safe Liberal seat. If you were paying any attention at all to the election last May, you'd know that "Jack-mania" swept Quebec, and a lot of people running for the NDP, including a 19 year old kid and a barmaid who never even set foot in her riding and couldn't even speak French were elected. This lady who jumped to the Libs didn't run because she knew it was the best way to get elected, there are only parts of Toronto, Winnipeg, and sections of BC with enough stupid people to guarantee an NDP easy win. Quebec has never really been much for the NDP, until the last election. She jumped ship because once the wizard died that was pulling the levers keeping the illusion going that the NDP was a real party that wasn't full of loony tunes, she wanted out. Major fail Soop, major fail.

[wthwyt]

she shouldnt have run as an ndp but she probably did knowing that was the best way to get elected. now she is in and jumps ship. .

Wow - you should read the actual article Soop. The riding was once Chretien's, meaning it was a safe Liberal seat. If you were paying any attention at all to the election last May, you'd know that "Jack-mania" swept Quebec, and a lot of people running for the NDP, including a 19 year old kid and a barmaid who never even set foot in her riding and couldn't even speak French were elected. This lady who jumped to the Libs didn't run because she knew it was the best way to get elected, there are only parts of Toronto, Winnipeg, and sections of BC with enough stupid people to guarantee an NDP easy win. Quebec has never really been much for the NDP, until the last election. She jumped ship because once the wizard died that was pulling the levers keeping the illusion going that the NDP was a real party that wasn't full of loony tunes, she wanted out. Major fail Soop, major fail.

IMO anytime either MP's or MLA crosses the floor to another party their should be by-election in that area.