Backstabbers, liars, opportunists and other types of floor crossers

Work in Progress By Ivan Morgan

There’s a flap about the federal Liberals poaching MPs from the Conservatives as they work slowly towards a majority. Conservative MPs are crossing the floor to join the Liberals. The media is full of the usual opinions on the practice – good and bad. All sorts of motives have been attributed to the goings on. All sorts of solutions to the “problem” are offered.

I love the debate about elected people crossing the floor (joining another political party) because it cuts to the heart of our democracy. It’s a very old debate. It is a very human debate, about a very human system, designed over the centuries by us very human beings.

I have witnessed floor crossings firsthand; I think I have something to add to the ongoing racket.

Why do people cross the floor? Any number of reasons. Despite the media and press releases, it’s rarely pure or simple.

I have seen people cross the floor because they were treated badly by the party they got elected with. Treated with contempt. I mean mocked, degraded, made fun of and humiliated. Not just by their elected colleagues, but by staff and unelected party members. Had I not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. To my mind they were driven out of the party.

Political parties are many things to many people. To some they reflect a set of beliefs that all members share. To others it’s a pseudo religion, pure and simple. To others it is a social club. To others it’s a team. All these different viewpoints see floor crossers through different lenses.

Political parties will try to demonize their opponents to win your vote. Sadly, nowadays that is too common. They will try to convince people the world is black and white, good and evil. The world isn’t that way, so when a satanic enemy decides to change his strips and come aboard, attitudes have to be adjusted.

Parties view floor crossings as good or bad, depending on how it affects them. If someone left another party and joined the party I worked for, they were seen to have come to their senses, seen the light if you will. Viewed as wonderful people. If they left our party to join a rival, they were traitorous, back-stabbing liars and scumbags. And that’s just the stuff I can say in a community newspaper. I’ve seen it be the same person on two separate occasions: when they joined us and when they left. Santa Claus then Satan.

In my own time I did not see anyone cross the floor for ideological reasons. Some, like current Speaker Paul Lane, left parties on principle.   

I have also seen people switch because they could not get along with the people in their party (and visa versa). I have seen folks cross because they were ambitious and saw the party they were a member of going nowhere fast.    

In Ottawa today I see Tories joining the Liberals thinking they are going to save their own hides. Remember their jobs only last at best four years before they need to re-apply. I suppose they feel they have a better chance with the new crowd. Or a better offer. Ideologically, the Carney Liberals are for all intents and purposes a progressive conservative government, which makes it easier for mainstream Tories to join.

Former English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a hero to many of my generation, crossed the floor a few times in his career. He marched to is own drummer. Locally we see a few of those.

Lane did it twice, choosing to do what he thought was right, instead of doing what he was told.  He then sat as an independent and got re-elected. Doesn’t seem to have hurt him.

Lela Evans, currently the PC minister of Health and half a dozen other portfolios crossed a few times. Hasn’t hurt her.

Interestingly, Evans and Lane (I know them both) have one thing in common. Evans may have flirted with various parties, but she was always all about the people of her district, Torngat Mountains. Ditto for Paul Lane in Mount Pearl South. Both are dedicated to the people who elected them, not to any political party.

I think that shows what most voters think about political parties. Here’s hoping that’s the future for politics in this place.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com