Not again!

Last Thursday, the Conservative MP for Markham-Unionville, Michael Ma, crossed the floor to join the Liberals. This follows Chris d’Entremont, a Nova Scotia Tory who did likewise last month.

Naturally, a fundamental question arises: why did Ma flip on a dime? How did he go from criticizing Prime Minister Mark Carney in the House of Commons to embracing the Liberal Party of Canada just a few days later?

Was Ma coerced to switch sides? After all, his riding has a history of foreign interference via China, a country which very much prefers the Liberals to the Conservatives.

Or was Ma promised something from Carney?

But whether the floor-crossing was achieved by the carrot or the stick, it was wrong. And it stinks.

After all, we’re not talking about a single seat changing here. This is all about Carney transforming a minority government into a majority government.

Alas, just one not-so-insignificant hitch: Canadians did NOT vote for a majority Liberal government back in April. Yet, it appears that when you’re Mark Carney, who cares what the “little people” have to say?

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Indeed, what is happening now with these Tory turncoats is nothing short of a fundamental abuse of our democratic process.

Little wonder why dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Ma’s constituency office to vent their anger on Monday.

Not surprisingly, Ma was AWOL from his constituency office. Meanwhile, the office had a notice on the door noting that it is now closed. (Also displayed on the door: posters affixed by angry constituents decrying Ma as a traitor.)

In the bigger picture, the question arises: should our parliamentary democracy be changed to prevent such floor crossings? Which is to say, if someone quits their party, perhaps that MP must sit as an independent until the next election?

Or perhaps an MP quitting his or her party should automatically trigger a byelection in the riding?

At least that would be fair to the constituents. Just ask the people of Markham-Unionville who are now victims of a political version of “bait and switch.”