Some liberals can’t decide where they stand on issues. But I guess that’s why there’s a Liberal Party.
Citing unhappiness with the Liberal government on issues ranging from same-sex marriage and foreign policy to the sponsorship scandal, veteran Liberal MP David Kilgour quit the party yesterday and will sit as an independent beginning today.
Mr. Kilgour said allegations of political payoffs heard at the Gomery inquiry last week finally convinced him to end a relationship with the Liberals that he agreed had become like a “bad marriage.”
“It really troubles me, the envelopes with money and so on. But it’s not just Gomery, it’s just about everything. There are a whole lot of issues where I am increasingly out of sync with the government.”
The Edmonton MP insists the sponsorship scandal is merely the latest in the basket of issues that frustrated him as a western Canadian.
“I’ve been trying for a long time to convince them they were making some fundamental errors, certainly in terms of the West,” Mr. Kilgour said, pointing to the unpopularity of the government’s support for same-sex marriage and failure to reform the Senate.
“I think that the prime minister is getting extremely bad advice on how to win the hearts of westerners.”
His decision to leave the ailing Liberals as they plummet in opinion polls has been rumoured since the weekend and comes as at least one other Liberal, Ontario MP Pat O’Brien, also considers quitting.
Mr. Kilgour said speculation that he would join the Conservative party was premature, however. He says he has studiously avoided talking to Conservatives, including leader Stephen Harper, since he began mulling a resignation from the Liberal party after hearing details of testimony from the sponsorship inquiry.
“I’m extremely anxious that people not think I’m an opportunist. I believe that if you’re elected as a Liberal, you shouldn’t wait for the first opportunity and then run and say ‘This is more popular’.” […]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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