Going Grit will be a huge stretch for him. To his credit, he has been the Commons' No. 1 champion of income-splitting for married couples. Not only do the Liberals oppose this move (which would save middle-class families $3,000 to $6,000 a year in income taxes), they banned it explicitly in their 1999 budget; and last fall they voted against a Conservative motion to permit seniors to income-split more of their pensions.
Mr. Turner has passionately defended the Tories GST cut, their elimination of the national daycare strategy in favour of child care payments directly to families, boosting the basic personal tax exemption to $10,000 a year, cuts to corporate tax rates, elimination of the corporate surtax and the rearming of our military, of which he said "hallelujah!" On all of these issues, he stands four-square against the Liberals.
So clearly, there are some fundamental ideological differences.
The advantages for Garth are obvious:
- -Campaign donations will be easier to obtain with the accompanying tax receipts which are not an option for Indies.
- -Garth will now be allowed to sit on parliamentary committees.
- -His riding nomination is ensured.
There are likely many more.
But what would have motivated Stephane Dion to throw a lifeline to this loose cannon, beyond the obvious extra vote?
Is Stephane more calculating than we had previously thought? Or simply more incompetent?
* * * *
Jack's NewsWatch has included this post, plus a very interesting one of his own ("What's Garth up to Now?").
Also check out Olaf's great post, "Floor Crossers Beware..."
Turner's first Liberal caucus meeting - such a class act.
Update: Great catch here. Garth not only spills the caucus beans, but in effect says, 'Stephane, we didn't get it done!'
Also check out Olaf's great post, "Floor Crossers Beware..."
Turner's first Liberal caucus meeting - such a class act.
Update: Great catch here. Garth not only spills the caucus beans, but in effect says, 'Stephane, we didn't get it done!'
21 comments:
Incompetent, the more I watch this guy the more I like him.
To correct something I wrote yesterday. I'm listening to the Dave Rutherford show (online by the way), and Garth Turner is not a guest on the show (as I stated), but rather he is the "subject" of a portion of the show, playing right now.
anon #83
Good post Joanne. I put up my two cents worth too. I need some advice though. Stephen has put me near the bottom of the BT blogroll and I have my site feed set to "full" as he requested. What do I do now? Do I have to wait for a code? In other words, if I wanted to link my latest post on Garth Turner, what do I do? Help. Just leave me a comment under my post when you get time.
Thanks.
Why? Simple. To stake out his position in the centre and attract disenchanted progressives from the old PC party making it clear that the radical, theocon CPC doesn't have to be their default choice.
right, they'd be much more comfortable in among the socialists.
Joanne -- I just went to BT and my post was up. Don't know how it happened. I guess it's now automatic. Thanks anyway. Regarding Garth -- apart from going to the Green's, where could he have gone? The problem started back after the election. He should have left his laptop and cell phone far away from the caucus room. I'll bet none of this would have happened if he had. So, bottom line, Garth has to take responsibility for the way things turned out. It's not like the Pm and his conservative colleagues did anything. They just couldn't trust him. I'm disappointed he has gone over to the Liberals. But I actually like the guy. He tells em like he sees em. I don't think he'll stay Liberal longterm though, but time will tell. P.S. On the matter of granddaughter # 2, her appointment yesterday for her left wrist reset was for 3pm. She finally got into surgery for the reset at 8pm last night. She's glad it's over and went back to school this afternoon. But, we bloggers need to start putting pressure on Smitherman.
Sandy, I'm glad your granddaughter is getting over her medical nightmare. Yes, we should be putting pressure on the Ontario government for sure regarding health care delivery and so many other issues.
That's good that the aggregator is taking your posts now!
To stake out his position in the centre and attract disenchanted progressives from the old PC party making it clear that the radical, theocon CPC doesn't have to be their default choice.
Right. All loose cannons gladly accepted. He is divisive. So much for party unity.
Heck, what do I care anyway?
because deep down in your heart, you're scared of the implications...
Is there any evidence that Garth actually leaked confidential caucus information?
The fact that there is no debate in the CPC caucus, only presentations of the current policy from the Inner Party, does not count as confidential information.
For those who are here right now, and interested.....Garth is on the Charles Adler radio show.
Hope you didn't eat too much for lunch. :-)
anon #83
Sandy -- There is no evidence that Turner leaked anything confidential. The reason for his dismissal has never really been properly explained. In fact, Harper lied about it initially claiming it was an action taken by the Ontario caucus that he was unaware of. This was soon proven to be a whopper. But there never were details provided, just speculation subsequently taken as being fact. Most likely was that Harper was simply fed up with being publicly criticized from within his own party.
Joanne -- That Dion will take him on board notwithstanding him being “a pain” speaks well for him in my opinion. He’s made it clear what his expectations are in terms of loyalty and discretion, so we’ll see whether Garth can adhere to that. Time will tell whether it was a good decision or not.
Yeah, well, maybe Garth will surprise us.
"Sandy -- There is no evidence that Turner leaked anything confidential. The reason for his dismissal has never really been properly explained."
Actually RT, he was caught twice. Stephen Taylor posted the infi from Garths blog and also the edited version when he was busted. I saw it, and yes, he did reveal confidential info.
As for Turners sudden change to the Liberals? Well, he was having fundraising trouble as an indy, and in exchange for joining the party was guaranteed the nomination for the next election.That was reported by both Newman and Duffy.
So, it is really all about Garth.
I read an article about the "leak", and the only smoking gun appeared to be Garth edited his blog, when he said he never does. But I don't recall if it said what was leaked.
What, exactly, was leaked?
GT's brand of politics is a lot like Adler's brand of journalism.
Both of them hit occasional fly balls but there's a lot of empty air swooshes as they swing to the sound of the crowd. Hey batter batter batter....heyyyyyyyyyyy batter!
Batting average for both = well under 100!
Best Blog Comment on Turner this week:
http://responsiblegovernmentleague.blogspot.com/2007/02/boring-whore.html
......""He's like a less interesting version of Brison, St. Jaques, Stronach, and Matthews; he is a political street walker of the two dollar variety who just turned his final sad and pathetic trick.""
"As for Turners sudden change to the Liberals? Well, he was having fundraising trouble as an indy, and in exchange for joining the party was guaranteed the nomination for the next election.That was reported by both Newman and Duffy."
ah.....I wondered what was in it for Turner.
I did hear Dion say that he and Turner talked about the confidentiality of the caucus meetings, and how important that is.....as well as how he invited input from all MP's but that the party spoke with one voice.
To which Garth nodded grimly.
anon #83
To which Garth nodded grimly - his mouth being wired shut.
Is there any evidence that Garth actually leaked confidential caucus information?
Here is da proof. And da proof is da proof.
Anything you say can come back to bite you someday.
and it's a good proof, so it's proven.
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