Tag: msm

Garth Turner, legend of the elected Liberal Member of Parliament

Canadian Press in the Globe and Mail:

Mr. Turner, 59, was a Conservative when he was first elected to the Commons in 1988. He served briefly as revenue minister and ran unsuccessfully for the Tory leadership in 1993 and lost in the general election that year.

He was re-elected as a Liberal in 2006.

I’m sorry, but that’s just not so!

Regular readers of political news will remember that Garth was unceremoniously booted from the Conservative Party caucus for breaching caucus confidentiality (and for not being a team player in general). He then mused on joining the Green Party making the Greens somewhat excited and likely anxious at the same time. He polled his constituents on their preferred path for their maverick MP and staying to this apt descriptor, ignored their advice and joined the Liberal caucus. Turner has never been re-elected as a Liberal MP even though he said that the floor-crossing David Emerson should have gone back to his constituents to be re-elected as a Conservative.

“Anyone who crosses the floor ultimately should go back to the people for ratification and I stick by it and hopefully in this case that will happen,” — Garth Turner as a Conservative MP

Garth has yet to resign his seat to force a by-election. He’s at home in his new – but not Green – shifty party.

My question for John McCain

Senator McCain initially jokes that he’s non-committal on making Canada his first foreign visit, however, he followed this up with the following,

“Certainly, I think that that [first POTUS foreign trip to Canada] is a precedent that there’s every argument to follow that”

“I think it was very appropriate that both President Reagan and President Clinton took a trip to Canada before they took any foreign travel.”

— Senator John McCain

Senator McCain’s visit to Canada as a presumptive nominee for President is unprecedented in history. Before yesterday, no other such candidate for President, Democrat or Republican, has come to Canada during an election cycle.

I wanted to ask a question that was simple, and had the potential for headlines. I believe that McCain’s answer to my question indicates that he sees no reason not to follow the precedents set by Presidents Clinton and Reagan to make Canada his first foreign visit.

Three reporters focused on NAFTA-related stories even after McCain mentioned that he would not address the red meat of the NAFTA-leak story that many Canadian national reporters were after. I felt that these questions were guaranteed to provide non-answers.

Another question regarding Omar Khadr was important and elicited a somewhat uncomfortable shift of burden upon the Canadian government; McCain had mentioned his policy to shut down Guantanamo Bay as a detention facility but may have put Foreign Affairs on guard when he mentioned that Canada has not actually sought to intervene for Khadr.

I felt that Global reporter Ben O’hara-byrne’s question elicited one of the more interesting exchanges as Senator McCain formulated his own on-the-spot policy regarding the exportation of Canadian water and water-security. McCain indicated that it was not a strategy that he would likely be supporting.