Emerson's Jump: 'Immoral' And 'Cynical'

It's been argued that Emerson should resign his seat and run for election as a Conservative. This has not been the practice here, in Britain or the United States. In cases where the floor crosser moves into cabinet, I believe he should resign and seek voter approval for what he's done. That he won't resign and run in a by-election is no doubt due, in part, to his knowledge that he'd get his ass kicked. 'CYNICISM TAKEN TO A NEW LEVEL' By David Schreck David Emerson has taken cynicism about politics to a new level. It is bad enough when someone who is elected jumps parties without resigning and running in a by-election, but Emerson is not only skipping that step (as he skipped a nomination race when he first ran), but he didn't wait so much as a single day to observe how the Harper government would govern. Emerson maintains that he was approached by John Reynolds immediately after the election, but one has to wonder whether the thought of switching sides crossed his mind during the campaign. On election night, television cameras caught him, in a slip of the tongue, referring to a future majority Conservative government, quickly corrected to Liberal for that night's crowd. http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/02/07/EmersonJump/ [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 9, 2006]

Note: http://thetyee.ca/Views...