Tuesday, February 06, 2007

MP Garth Turner joining Liberal caucus: CTV

CTV Updated Tue. Feb. 6 2007 10:56 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff

Maverick MP Garth Turner, who was booted from Conservative party ranks last fall, is expected to join the Liberal caucus, CTV News has learned. "I'm being told that Garth Turner, who was kicked out of the Conservative caucus, and has been sitting as an Independent, is expected to join the Liberal caucus this afternoon," CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported on Newsnet.

"I understand negotiations are ongoing now and Liberal party insiders say that they expect that Mr. Turner and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion will make that announcement this afternoon." In November, Turner announced that he is resigning from the Conservative party after being told he would not be permitted to seek a Tory nomination again. The MP for Halton, Ont. has sat as an Independent since he was indefinitely suspended from the Tory caucus in October, accused of breaching party confidentiality on his blog.

There had been widespread speculation that Turner was in talks with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "Everybody had expected frankly that maybe Mr. Turner would join the Green party, He was certainly close to Elizabeth May, the Green party leader, and had flirted with them for some time," Fife said. "But he may have decided in the last instance that it may be more effective as a Member of Parliament to be in one of the major parties." Turner was a Conservative MP under Brian Mulroney from 1988 to 1993 and served as revenue minister in Kim Campbell's short-lived government in 1993.

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