Que. NDP MP jumps to Liberal caucus in Commons
Posted January 10, 2012 10:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
New Democrat MP Lise St-Denis jumped to the Liberal caucus in the House of Commons on Tuesday, citing policy reasons.
“I am in the Liberal party because its direction on social policy, on job creation, on external affairs and on the environment appears to me as being able to generate hope for all people living in communities in my riding,” the backbencher said at a news conference.
Liberal interim leader Bob Rae and Quebec caucus president Denis Coderre welcomed the new recruit.
“This is a decision based on principles and values,” Coderre said.
Rae said jumping to the third party from the Official Opposition can hardly be seen as opportunism.
He admitted being “fairly surprised” when St-Denis first approached him to discuss the matter.
Word of an NDP defection to the Liberals was first reported by Le Devoir.
St-Denis is a former French teacher who won with 39 per cent of the vote last May in a riding that includes much of what used to be former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien’s constituency.
The defection gives the third-party Liberals 35 seats in the Commons, including eight from Quebec. The NDP is left with 101 seats (including 58 in Quebec), the Tories have 165, the Bloc Quebecois has four. There is one Green MP, one independent and one vacancy in the 308-seat chamber.
Until now, St-Denis was a backer of NDP leadership contender Thomas Mulcair.
“Thomas Mulcair embodies the values of social justice and integrity which inspired me to get into politics,” she says on his campaign website. “He has my support.”
While changing parties is often referred to as “crossing the floor,” St.-Denis will only have to move over a seat or two to join her new colleagues.
Most high-profile defections usually involve members from opposition parties joining the governing party.
In February 2006, David Emerson was sworn in as Stephen Harper’s trade minister, despite having been elected as a Liberal just a few weeks earlier.
In May 2005, then-Conservative MP Belinda Stronach famously abandoned her party in exchange for a cabinet position under then-Liberal prime minister Paul Martin. Her defection allowed his minority government to win a key non-confidence vote.
Scott Brison was elected as a Progressive Conservative in 1997, but joined the Liberals in 2003. He went on to become minister of public works under Martin, and now is now the party’s finance critic.
