Lee Carter (BBC): Shock switch boosts Canada's Liberals

From the BBC Online
Dated

Shock switch boosts Canada's Liberals
By Lee Carter
BBC News, Toronto

Canada's minority Liberal government received some surprise help in its bid to stave off a Thursday vote of no confidence, when a senior member of the opposition Conservative party announced that she was joining the Liberals.

Belinda Stronach, 39, who was regarded as a Conservative front-bench star, made the unanticipated announcement at a news conference with the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

She cited differences with her party leader Stephen Harper over issues such as the party's opposition to legislation that would legalise same-sex marriage.

She said she was uneasy at the Conservatives forging a voting alliance in the House of Commons with the Quebec separatist party the Bloc Quebecois.

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an opportunist. The difference between the 2 parties is negligible. They are flip side of the same coin in much the same way as the democrats and repuke's are.