Hell Hath No Fury

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is indeed a pleasure to visit this mostly-august house. It is not uncommon for my thoughts to drift to Belinda Stronach, and recent events appear to finally give me valid reason. It appears that switching parties is the worst form of opportunism. Even if it's a move that merely provides you with a Cabinet post in a failing government. Even when your social views coincide more strongly with those of the Liberals (and, given the right-ward drift of the Grits, likely your fiscal views as well). Even when reality dictates that working within a party generally provides your constituents with a stronger voice than working as an independent. Even when your past opposition to the Liberals can likely be credited as much to personal beliefs as to the unfortunate tendency for an Official Opposition to necessarily decry anything and everything a government may do. It is easy to cast blame on Belinda; switching parties rubs people the wrong way. Nevertheless, in a world where the Conservatives are competing against a dismal governing party and *still* can't gain the upper hand, it might behoove them to stop casting blame in fits of undeserved frustrated entitlement, and to start looking inward at why the Canadian populace simply doesn't like them.