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In the wake of another Conservative breaking ranks to join Prime Minister Mark Carney, Liberal MPs are sharing new details about how they successfully convinced the first floor-crosser — Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont — to join their side.
In an interview with CBC’s The House that aired Saturday morning, Liberal MP Kody Blois said efforts ramped up in August, when d’Entremont was returning from Newfoundland after doing a tour with a Conservative MP.
“I said, ‘Let’s get together,’ and we had a conversation. Of course, it wasn’t a high-pressure pitch,” Blois told host Catherine Cullen. “It was just reiterating to Chris that I think he would find a lot of relevance with our party and the way in which the prime minister was governing.”
D’Entremont, who also spoke with The House, said the meeting with Blois “probably solidified some of the thoughts that I’ve been having.”
He returned to the House of Commons in September — still a Conservative MP — but over the months, other Liberals began reaching out, and Blois would lightly follow up.
After a fifth floor-crosser joined his Liberal government, Prime Minister Mark Carney described his party’s process of poaching defectors in the House of Commons. Carney said in each case, MPs have approached Liberal members expressing interest in joining the government ‘and near the end of the conversation is when I’ve met with those individuals.’
One of those other Liberals was New Brunswick MP Wayne Long, who told CBC News this weekend he had discussions with d’Entremont “literally for a good month or so” before he crossed the floor in November.
Long also said d’Entremont inquired about a meeting with Carney, which the New Brunswick MP rapidly set up.
“I think he was in front of the prime minister within about 30 minutes [after the inquiry],” Long added.
D’Entremont said that he indeed met with Carney on very short notice, with the intent to “get a better feeling of what his vision is.”
The House13:00Behind the scenes of a floor crossing
Marilyn Gladu left the Conservative party to join the Liberals this week, and there are rumours there are still more MPs who might follow. Catherine Cullen sits down with the first Conservative MP who made the leap to the Liberals, Chris d’Entremont, and Kody Blois, one of the Liberals who wooed him to cross the floor, to find out how it happens.
The prime minister led by discussing investments the federal government is making for Acadian culture, according to d’Entremont.
“So he started off with a heart — with something that’s so important to me,” d’Entremont said. “But then [he] talked about what things were important, what Nova Scotia meant to him.”
“You know, we had a wonderful conversation over almost an hour. And to think I could sit there with the prime minister and talk about those things and be so frank was absolutely phenomenal. That was the clincher.”
When d’Entremont announced his decision to cross, he said at the time that Carney “is offering that path with a new budget that hits the priorities I have heard most in my riding, to build strong community infrastructure and grow a stronger economy.”
On Thursday, Carney told reporters he’s “often the last to know” about floor-crossers joining his team, and he meets with floor-crossers after they’ve had many conversations with members of the Liberal caucus they know well.
Five floor-crossers in total so far
D’Entremont ended up being the first of four Conservatives to leave their party and join the Liberal government.
The others, in order, are Ontario MP Michael Ma, Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux and, most recently, Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu — who broke from the Tories on Wednesday.
Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu has crossed the floor to the Liberals, surprising both Liberals and Conservatives given some of her previous positions opposing signature Liberal policies. Power & Politics asks Liberal Party caucus chair James Maloney about the fifth MP to defect to the Liberals and what this could mean ahead of upcoming byelections. ‘Everyday brings new surprises,’ says Maloney.
In a statement to her Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong constituents announcing her move, Gladu wrote that she’s heard from the community “that you want serious leadership and a real plan to build a stronger and more independent Canadian economy.”
“Today, there is both the opportunity — and the responsibility — to build our country’s strength and success with a more constructive, collaborative approach,” she wrote.
Once seen as a social conservative, Gladu clarified some of her previous positions from the sidelines of the Liberal convention on Thursday, saying she’s pro-choice and anti conversion therapy.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blasted Gladu’s move on Thursday and argued if an MP goes back on the word they made to their constituents and switches parties, constituents should be able to petition to throw them out and have a byelection.
After Marilyn Gladu became the fourth Conservative MP to join this Liberal government, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said he believes ‘constituents in her riding and every riding should be able to petition for a byelection whenever a member of Parliament changes parties.’
“That would put the people back in charge of our democracy rather than having dirty backroom deals,” Poilievre added.
The Liberals also picked up Nunavut MP Lori Idlout from the NDP in March.
With the defections, the Liberals have 171 seats in the House of Commons — just one shy of a majority government. They’ll have a chance to clinch a majority on Monday, with byelections in Ontario and Quebec.
