Three weeks into the New Year and more than a month after Wildrose leader Danielle Smith and eight of her colleagues crossed the floor to join the Progressive Conservative government, not one has been named to cabinet.
However, if Canadian political history is any judge, it is only a matter of time until Smith and the majority of the Wildrose defectors are named to cabinet or receive other plumb political appointments. Remember Belinda Stronach? Shortly after she defected from the federal Conservatives to the Martin led Liberal government she became the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.
Smith contends her decision, in large part, was dictated by the fact that she no longer wanted to topple the PC government, under the leadership of Jim Prentice. She also said the differences between the two parties were not large enough to risk potentially splitting the vote and having a left leaning party form government.
Really? In the last two provincial elections, the Wildrose party has proven to be a strong political force, taking a number of votes from the governing PC party. Still, there was never any danger that the Liberals or NDP would gather enough support to remotely challenge the PC government.
Also, just because you are a member of an opposition party, doesn’t mean you or your party have to always disagree with the government. There have been a number of examples in Canada when opposition parties actually vote with the government.
A more likely scenario is that the nine defectors decided the writing was on the wall and the Wildrose party would not be destined to form government anytime in the near future and were swayed by the ‘Perks of Power’ as Smith called them when two of her MLA’s crossed the floor a month prior to the mass defection. Even though, according to Prentice, a member of Smith’s office, as early as the week of Nov. 10, reached out to the government to discuss a potential floor crossing.
Whatever the reason, the group of nine should have done the honourable thing. If they were unhappy with their party, effect changes from the inside. Still not happy, sit as independents, as individuals or as a group as 14 members of the Canadian Alliance Party did in 2001 after being expelled from caucus for criticizing their leader, Stockwell Day.
The question is why should Albertans and more specifically the people of Barrhead care? After all crossing the floor is a political tradition. Even Winston Churchill crossed the floor twice.
For arguments sake, let us assume Smith along with a number of the former Wildrose MLAs are given cabinet posts. Can you see Smith agreeing to cross the floor just to be a backbencher? If Prentice is good to his word, and keeps a smaller cabinet that means a number of ministers will be demoted.Ministers that were actually chosen to be part of the government by the people and not as a condition to change one’s political stripes.
