Brison crossing floor to join Liberals - Cdn Tories lose 4th MP - CBC

This is starting to be a huge story.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/10/brison_031210

A member of the PCs for more than 25 years, Brison said he struggled with the merger between the Progressive Conservatives and Canadian Alliance. He said he's not sure if the unified party can reflect his values and the values of Canadians.

"That is what I am not certain about at this time because I do have a growing sense of doubt in both cases," said Brison.

Brison, who is openly gay, has told friends he expects the new conservative party will have problems with intolerant members of Parliament. He says he wants to avoid becoming what he calls a poster boy for gay issues.

As a Liberal, Brison has decided he will be able to focus on economics and tax policy. The Nova Scotia MP said he believes Paul Martin will make an exceptional prime minister.

in the Liberal Party.

It's a good time to be an NDPer. ;)

I am unfamiliar with the different political players in Canada.
Please help out an ignorant american.


As I understand the conservative parties are trying to make a unified front? Why would this guy think about joining them at all.
Maybe if I drink some more coffee it will all make sense.

The PC's (Progressive Conservatives) are a slightly-right of centre mirror equivalent of the (allegedly) slightly-left of centre Liberal Party. The Canadian Alliance consists of people who left the PC's precisely because they did not consider them to be a conservative party. The Canadian Alliance is the Canadian equivalent of the Republican Party. Since their creation the Canadian Alliance has complained about the PC's splitting the right-wing vote and allowing Liberal Majority Governments. This argument does not take into account the fact that PC supporters are three-and-a-half times more likely to vote Liberal as a second choice than CA. Therefore the CA have attempted to 'unite-the-right' by absorbing the PC's. Think of it like a bank merger. A larger bank with a poor public image wishes to absorb a smaller bank with a good customer service track record in order to increase market share. This is exactly what has happened. The merger has squeezed out true progressives like Brison, Clark, Herron and Marchand who could not sit with the Social Conservatives of the CA. Expect this 'united-right' party to be rejected by the vast majority of centrist Canadians.

the socialist/social democratic NDP sees a huge door opening. The Liberals have dominated the federal scene by playing both ends against the middle: for instance, giving a nod to the left by playing upon its fear of a right-wing government, but then governing from the centre-right.

In the next election, the right-wing opposition looks to be in disarray: a new "conservative" party dominated by a fringe which was already in decline and has limited appeal beyond Alberta, a possible rump party of former "progressive" conservatives, and a number joining the Liberals.

This means the Liberals will have no credible right to compete against next election (likely coming in the Spring). That's a nightmare scenario for a party which counts on scaring a good number of left/liberals into supporting it.

Plus, their new leader, Paul Martin, is the most conservative Liberal leader in my lifetime, with damning ties - for leftists, at least - to big business.

It's a recipe for a minority government. Leftists who would normally support the Liberals to stem the right will feel free to vote their conscience, which will help the NDP. (Which, recent polls show, is now Canadians second choice.)

Plus, the NDP now has a leader to inspire it, Jack Layton, and was already reinvigorated. The NDP campaign, when the election comes, will be the most exciting to watch. It's been a while since that could be said.

Or maybe an evolution. These are the dying gasps of the Reform movement.

the leading opposition party in the next election?

Here's hoping.

influence on the Liberal Party. Expect Martin to swamp the right wing base in the west. We on the left can expect to win considerable support from left-liberals as Martin moves to the right.

Substandard vision and wacky lighting on monitors can be rewarding :)

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This is another example of how
1. politics in Canada don't come in neat right/left packages, neither do parties or voters.
2. to puzzle the Yanks. (:

WIth the exception of the new Conservative party (which will be a failed experiment in neo-con federally) the other two national parties span a tremendous and liquid part of the right/centre/left spectrum. I am withholding judgment on Paul Martin. It may be a corporate coup, suck up to Bush, dictatorship in guise of back bench democracy. Or it really could be an interesting new direction for the party and Canada. Yes Martin has considerable relationships with corporate fat cats, he may pander or he may use that as leverage to bring in some progressive and innovative ideas. He has credibility and ambition.

Even Layton and the NDP are playing the game, simultaneously attracting and embracing the activist wing of the party and moving the party to the middle as a viable centrist option to the Liberals.

Key to both the newNDP and the Paul Martin Liberals is a commitment to fiscal responsibility. (not conservatism).( and to different degrees) All part of the perpetual Canadian quest for the third way, I guess.

As for Brison. I am a huge fan of him and some of his ideas. The man is brilliant, There has been rumors about crossing the house for a while and I was rooting for it. He never would have fit with the uninspired policy, ideology (as opposed to idea) driven), republican wanna-be, bigot embracing, doesn't even have its Western alienation roots to fall back on, Canadian Alliance Conservatives. Being openly gay was only a part of the issue. I encourage you folks to check out his website from the previous leadership campaign (brison.ca). I obviously don't agree on everything but he has some really fresh ideas on things like employment insurance and regional development. Both topics near and dear to my heart living in the east. The rumors of him switching party's also included talk of a very senior cabinet post. we'll see what the 12th brings.

At least not tomorrow. He'd be jumping ahead of dozens of life-long liberals who would tear him to pieces. The new boy has to serve his time as a back-bencher first. If Brison crossed the floor purely because he was offered a plum job (remember, he voted for the PC / CA merger, so this is a pretty sudden change of heart), that reflects pretty badly on Paul Martin.