The defection of Leona Alleslev is hardly a political earthquake. Her departure this week from the government benches to the ranks of the Official Opposition does not coincide with a steep decline in Liberal popularity or highlight a particular party failing.
However, if the ramifications of her move are hard to envision, she has provided a chance to reflect on the role of an MP, a role you could say she has honoured in the breach.
Members of Parliament have to walk a thin line between serving as representatives of their voters and advancing the interests of their party. Sometimes these two roles clash, especially on matters of conscience.
This is why there was such a spasm of internal party discipline over the Liberal government’s summer-jobs-program attestation, which required groups seeking grants to affirm that their core mandate respected abortion rights. As that case suggests, parties have gone too far in enforcing ideological conformity on issues outside their core agenda.
On the other hand, not just party whips but voters, too, have a fair expectation that an MP will work to advance the central policies of the party whose colours she stood under on election day.
After all, many if not most MPs are elected because of the banner they carry. Representing your constituents means toeing the party line on major campaign promises. A Liberal who reveals between elections that she thinks higher taxes on the wealthy are wrong is not a conscience-stricken hero, she is a con artist.
That’s why Ms. Alleslev’s sudden discovery that her worldview aligns more closely with Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives is troubling. She has not departed from the Liberals on a niche matter of principle, but has instead damned (albeit vaguely) the party’s whole approach to fiscal policy and foreign affairs, which has not changed since 2015.
In that case, one wonders why she told voters she was a Liberal in the first place. It’s a rare feat in Canadian politics to betray voters by being insufficiently loyal to your party, but an instructive one. Perhaps we should thank Ms. Alleslev for managing it.