Would Turner's principles allow him to become Green?

There is a tremendous amount of speculation at the moment whether ousted Tory maverick Garth Turner will become Canada's first ever Green Party MP.

Green leader Elizabeth May has already been in contact with Turner, attempting to persuade him to join. The Toronto Star quoted May as saying, "Obviously, we'd welcome him with our arms wide open." The Star then quoted Turner, "I'm flattered by the attention. It's a very quick response," and noted that Turner expected to speak with May in the near future.

But would Turner's personal code of principles allow him to make such a political move? Let's have a closer look.

Turner has been a vocal opponent of David Emerson, who left the Liberals for a cabinet position with the Conservatives earlier this year. On the subject, he commented:

"Anybody who switches parties should go back to the people. To do otherwise is to place politicians above the people when, actually, it's the other way around."

To put even further doubt on Turner's likelihood of going Green, consider the following quote, posted on his blog on 9 February 2006:

"I am a democrat who believes everyone in the House of Commons, including the cabinet members who make up the government, should be elected. They should sit in Parliament as they were elected. If they decide to change parties, they should go and get re-elected."

But yet, several paragraphs later, Turner seemed willing to tolerate Emerson's change of parties, if he eventually ran for re-election in his new political stripe:

"I am not demanding the guy resign today, given the fact he has just been handed huge duties and Harper surely had sound reasons for his decision. But it would look very good indeed on David Emerson to say something like this: Yeah, I understand the feeling of those people who are disturbed that I switched parties. I have decided my real home is with the Conservatives, and I am honoured to serve the PM, but I also realize it’s not all my choice. So after I’ve proven my worth in this job, and when the time is appropriate, I will go back to the voters." (Emphasis is mine, not Garth Turner's.)

So it seems that Turner could live with floor crossing, as long as those who do so eventually go back for re-election. It's not entirely clear whether Turner would permit such a person to wait until the next general election, or whether they should have an earlier by-election perhaps in the midst of a term.

To even further complicate matters, given the current minority government status, is there even such thing as the "middle of a term", when the government could capsize at any time? This point is especially pertinent, given the Conservatives' recent embarrassment from House of Commons voting results regarding Kyoto and the Kelowna Accord. So, if Turner did become a Green during a minority Conservative, could he self-justify hanging on until the next general election before going "back to the people"?

Besides the Emerson affair, two characteristics of Garth Turner are a strong penchant for progressive environmental policy and action, and a mind for fiscal spending by the government. Interestingly, these just also happen to be two of the Green Party's three major policy stances.

We all know of Turner's background writing business advice columns in the Toronto Sun, but his environmental background is not quite so well known.

This morning on Canada AM, Turner stated:

"Climate change is the greatest all-around threat this country faces, and my nation's government should not let us down with half measures, a courtsey to junk science, or a sell-out to the tar sands."

During the same interview, he also said:

"I think my job as a member of parliament is to speak out of the issue that my constituents care about. And boy, they care about little else more right now than climate change and the Green Plan."

Turner has in fact felt Green issues to be so important, that he was repeatedly posted feedback from his constituents about what they want from the Clean Air Act on his blog (much to the Tory caucus' fury), and even interviewed Green Party leader Elizabeth May on Tuesday, sneaking her into the foyer of the House of Commons during one of his infamous "MPtv" video blogging segments.

But the most compelling piece of evidence yet as to whether Turner may join the Green Party relates to his former employment, which most people seem unaware of. A quick visit to the “About” section on Turner's website reveals the following:

"Garth is a strong believer in environmental protection, and [served] as a national director of the Vancouver-based Sierra Legal Defence Fund, which fights to uphold environmental legislation."

But wait - there's more. A quick visit to Turner's page on Wikipedia, the interactive online encyclopedia, notes that:

"Turner is also founder and CEO of The Credit River Company, a Caledon-based destination and ecotourism company that is noted for the restoration of heritage buildings in the area."

Turner's overall disapproval of floor crossing is clearly at odds with his appreciation of the importance of protecting the environment, in terms of any potential move to the Green Party. Clearly, Garth will be in inner turmoil over what to do next.

Now back in his home constituency of Halton-Peel in suburban Toronto, Turner will spend the next two or three days speaking with his constituents, "...to try to determine ... what is the best course of action for me to be an effective Member of Parliament".

As Turner noted during his CPAC interview last night:

"I'm happy to talk to anybody. Whatever's going to move the issues forward that Canadians want, I'm interested in that. Whatever that is, I do not know."

Could a highly-negative reaction to the Clean Air Act, released today, by his constituents be the ammunition needed to justify Turner's speculated move to the Green Party?