Turner not allowed to have ideas

For anyone that missed Garth’s press conference which concluded not long ago, Garth said very pointedly that the reason the Ontario Conservative caucus pushed him out was:

My beliefs on policies. The issue was not caucus confidentiality.

When asked if he was aware if Prime Minister Stephen Harper knew about or was involved in the decision to expel him from caucus, Garth was honest, gracious even, and said he did not know.

However anyone who watches Ottawa and knows the players knows this: The Ontario caucus would not act without a) Harper knowing about it and b) Harper approving it. Period.

Not to mention that Doug Finley, Director of Political Operations, sat in the caucus meeting and that, in a minority government, no MP is ejected without the party’s political leadership being in the loop, including the leader of the party, who is one Stephen Harper. Senator Marjory Lebreton denied that Harper was in the loop, which only makes her look disingenuous, at best.

What has happened, in a real way, is that the party of Garth, and me, has left us, rather than the other way around. Clearly our party is not the party of ideas but of ideology. Its not the party of all Canadians but the party of those who are willing to park their ideas at the door, and kneel before the Prime Minister.

I’d trade David Emerson for Turner any day, and I bet Turner’s constituents elect him, as an independent or running for any party, in a heart beat.