Chris d'Entremont shocked Canada's political world by announcing he would cross the floor, leaving Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives and joining Mark Carney's Liberals, the day Budget 2025 was released.

The floor crossing by the Acadie-Annapolis, Nova Scotia MP pushed the Liberals to just two seats shy of a majority government, with rumours persisting that more could follow.

What motivated the former Conservative to switch sides in the House of Commons? That's the question hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and David Menzies dug into on Monday's Rebel Roundup livestream.

“He didn't get the deputy speaker's position; it went to a Conservative MP from Alberta — an actual Conservative MP” Sheila said.

“It comes with a $52,000 a year top-up, so his feelings got hurt and he decided to betray his own voters, his volunteers — everybody who's subject to abuse because they dared vote for a Conservative.”

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D'Entremont attempted to defend himself in an interview with CBC, suggesting he didn't campaign on the Conservatives' platform nor associate with Poilievre.

“Every single door — or many of those doors that we went to — it was, 'Chris, I can't vote for you this time because I don't like Pierre Poilievre,” d'Entremont claimed, despite winning the riding.

“I think it's time now that anyone in the Conservatives who identifies themselves as a 'Red Tory' — there's the door, thanks very much,” said David, adding the term “just means you're a closeted Liberal.”

MPs who abandon their party “should not” be able to join a competitor, he continued. Instead, they should decide whether to “sit as an independent until the next election” or “a byelection is automatically triggered.”