Hypocritical reaction?

Dear Editor:

It seems that how the leader of a political party feels about MPs crossing the floor to join the ranks of another party really depends on who is doing the crossing.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has been calling the floor-crossing of Conservative members to the Liberals the result of “dirty backroom deals.” 

And yet, in 2006 when Liberal David Emerson crossed the floor to join the Conservatives, Stephen Harper welcomed him and said, “Mr. Emerson will make a great contribution.” He even made Emerson a cabinet minister. In 2018, when Liberal Leona Alleslev crossed the floor to join the Conservatives, Andrew Scheer not only welcomed her, he also encouraged other Liberals to follow her example. 

“You are both wanted and needed in the Conservative Party of Canada,” he said. 

Weren’t those dirty backroom deals, too? Several years ago, when there was a motion in Parliament to have a by-election any time an MP crossed the floor, Poilievre voted against it.

Ed Butts,
Guelph