Harper set to welcome former Liberal MP into Tory fold

by CBC — June 26, 2007

A former Liberal MP who was ejected from the party for supporting the Conservative budget is set to join the Tories Tuesday.

A former Liberal MP who was ejected from the party for supporting the Conservative budget is set to join the Tories Tuesday.

Joe Comuzzi stands to vote for the Conservative budget in the House of Commons on March 27.
(Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to be in Thunder Bay, Ont., where he will formally welcome MP Joe Comuzzi to the federal Conservatives. Comuzzi represents Thunder Bay-Superior North, a riding he has held since 1988.

Comuzzi has been sitting as an Independent since Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion kicked him out of the party in March for backing the Conservative budget.

At the time, Comuzzi said he backed the budget because it included funding for a molecular cancer research centre that employs 300 people in his riding.

The CBC's Julie Van Dusen said Comuzzi is crossing the floor in part because he found it difficult to be an Independent.

"You don't have a home, you don't have a party," she said.

She said Comuzzi has also said that Harper was "very kind" to him after he was kicked out of the caucus.

"Stephen Harper called him and commiserated with him. [He] didn't say come and join us, but was very nice to him. [Comuzzi] said: 'I saw a good guy there and Harper really impressed me,' " Van Dusen said.

Harper called him three or four times afterward.

Comuzzi, a junior minister responsible for federal economic development in northern Ontario in the previous Liberal administration, had locked horns with his own party over same-sex marriage. He resigned from cabinet in 2005 so he could vote against the government's same-sex marriage bill.

Comuzzi's jump to the Conservatives will give the party 125 seats, followed by the Liberals with 100, the Bloc Québécois with 49 and the New Democrats with 29. There will be three Independent MPs and two seats are vacant.

Comuzzi is not planning to run in the next election.

A former Liberal MP who was ejected from the party for supporting the Conservative budget is set to join the Tories Tuesday.

Source:CBC top stories