>>After voting strategically for the Liberal candidate so that the Conservative one didn't get in, the guy (David Emerson) crossed the floor to become a Conservative. This bothers me for a few reasons:
>>
>>- personally I was voting for a progressive candidate, but he annulled my vote my becoming a Conservative
>>- the results in our riding (electoral district) gave 35,000 vote to the Liberals, 20,000+ to the NDP (left of centre) and 8000 to the Conservatives. Clearly the voters wanted a centre-left voice. He thwarted this.
>>- we can't recall him since there is no legislation federally to do so
>>- he is quitting in 2 years, so we can't judge him on this
>>- he refuses to hold a by-election to let the voters validate his switching to another party
>>- voters in this riding gave $98,000 to elect him as a Liberal, so far he has not said he will be giving this money back
>
>Floor crossing is appalling. In front of all they say one thing and do another in the true spirit of self-interest. It's disgusting and I never understood why its allowed. It's miss-representation, pure and simple.

If political parties didn't exist, then we wouldn't have this problem. Politicians would just carry out the wishes of the people that elected them.