A B.C. political scientist says he’s surprised most by the timing of a recent defection from the federal NDP party.
The party issued a statement late Tuesday confirming Nunavut MP Lori Idlout had crossed the floor to join the Liberals, pushing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government closer to a majority.
UFV professor Hamish Telford says he can understand why Idlout made the choice, but not when.
“Electing a new leader is a time of rejuvenation and hope for a party. So it’s a little curious that this is the time that she has decided to leave her party. But obviously the Liberals have been working hard to get her to switch,” said Telford.
After months of campaigning and debates, the NDP leadership race opened to voting on Monday, with a March 28 deadline for the reported 100,000 members to elect one of five candidates to replace Jagmeet Singh.
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Telford says Idlout’s departure could put a “black mark” on the reputation of presumed frontrunner Avi Lewis, whose campaign rally Idlout recently attended.
“She’s not sticking around to see him get elected. That doesn’t get him off to the best start, if he’s elected,” said Telford.
The latest floor crossing could help give the Carney government a majority, as the Liberals now need to win two of three April 13 byelections to have a narrow majority.
Telford says at least two of those seats are considered “safely” held by the Liberal Party.
“If they hold those, then they have the slimmest of majorities, and then we might start to see more floor crossers. That’s OK. Carney’s got his majority now; it looks like he’ll be around definitely for a couple of years.”
He suspects Idlout may have been motivated by Carney’s support for the northern territories and strong favourability in recent polling.
—With files from David Nadalini and The Canadian Press