Reaction to MP Chris d’Entremont’s move from the Conservative Party to the governing Liberals is making waves back home in Nova Scotia, with some fully supporting his decision and others saying he misrepresented his intentions to voters.
D’Entremont, the representative for Acadie-Annapolis, told reporters Wednesday he left the Conservative caucus because he no longer felt represented in leader Pierre Poilievre’s party.
“That does not surprise me,” Linda Gregory, warden of the Municipality of the District of Digby, told CBC News on Wednesday. “I think of Poilievre as a right-winger. I personally would run too.”
Still, Gregory — whose municipality falls within d’Entremont’s southwest Nova Scotia riding — said the longtime politician’s switch was unexpected because he’s always been known as a “staunch Conservative.”
“But he’s also got a lot of integrity. He’s also a very caring person, caring about his community, caring about what’s best. And to me, when he walked across the floor, he made a decision that was very heart-wrenching for him to make the best choice for our community,” Gregory said.
D’Entremont was first elected to the Nova Scotia Legislature in 2003 as a Progressive Conservative. He was re-elected four times and held multiple cabinet positions before eyeing the federal seat of West Nova, now Acadie-Annapolis. He became the only non-Liberal MP elected in Nova Scotia in the 2019 federal election.
Gregory said she hopes having d’Entremont in the Liberal caucus will lead to action on important local issues, including the twinning of Highway 101.
“We need the feds on side with the province to get this done,” said the warden.
‘Maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s a bad thing’
John Cunningham, the warden for the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth, said he was surprised by Tuesday’s floor crossing and that the people he’s spoken to have mixed feelings.
Cunningham, who once ran unsuccessfully for the provincial Progressive Conservatives, said he’s not sure how d’Entremont’s decision will impact his municipality, where the top issues include fisheries, infrastructure and tourism.
“I’ve yet to speak with him on how our priorities are going to be brought forth to the government, so maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s a bad thing. Until I speak with him, I have no idea,” Cunningham told CBC News, adding that he had already reached out to d’Entremont in a text message.
‘It’s not about the party, it’s about leadership’
Pam Mood, mayor of the Town of Yarmouth, said d’Entremont is a friend and she supports his decision.
“I think it was a good move, obviously. He knows what the community needs,” said Mood, who briefly pursued the federal Liberal nomination in West Nova in 2019. “It’s not about the party, it’s about leadership.”
Mood said there would be “better opportunity” to secure federal funding for projects with an MP on the government side.
“When you’ve got things aligned, it’s much better,” she said.
Constituents’ reaction mixed
Some 189 kilometres away, constituents in Kingston, N.S., were divided.
“It’s upsetting,” said Steve Mosher. “I supported Chris in the last election under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership, as did my wife. So we were both kind of upset to see it happen, honestly.”
Len Gregory said he was glad d’Entremont switched to the Liberal caucus, giving the MP credit for taking “his time to think about the things that he wanted, and he felt that we wanted.”
Another constituent, Fred Huntley, said he was “kind of neutral on it.”
“Not worried,” said Huntley. “He’s done a lot of good for us.”
Sense of betrayal
Rob Batherson, the former president of the Conservative Party of Canada, said d’Entremont betrayed his voters.
He said d’Entremont’s decision leaves Nova Scotia with a “Liberal monopoly.”
“I stood on a wharf in West Dover with Chris d’Entremont and [former Tory MP] Rick Perkins and others with fishermen during the federal election where we promised them we would fight for them, and Chris has walked away from that fight,” Batherson told CBC News in an interview on Wednesday.
Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont stunned the Conservative Party by crossing the floor on Tuesday to join Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals. Rob Batherson, the former president of the Conservative Party, said he’s never felt more betrayed in more than 30 years of politics. Watch his interview with Amy Smith.
Kevin Surette, a Conservative insider who has been part of nearly all of d’Entremont’s campaigns, said it wouldn’t have been an easy decision to leave caucus.
“Chris has been a close personal friend for a long time — I knew Chris well before politics, and I will continue to call him a friend long after he leaves politics,” Surette told CBC News in an email.
“I know that, in making this decision, he would have been weighing what he fundamentally, deep down believes is right for his constituents and for Canada, despite the personal consequences for him.”
Why move was shocking
Alex Marland, a Canadian politics professor at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., said d’Entremont’s move was surprising given the timing — announcing it at the same time as the federal budget.
“Crossing the floor is such a polarizing, upsetting thing that it would be more likely that we’d see people sitting as Independents to express their discontent. As an Independent, you can still vote with the government,” Marland said.
“It is far more shocking to me that you saw Chris d’Entremont cross the floor directly from the Conservatives right over into the Liberals.”
Marland said in his research, the No. 1 reason for crossing the floor is unhappiness with leadership.
With d’Entremont gone, there are no longer any Nova Scotia Conservatives in caucus.
Marland said the Conservative Party will have to do more to better align itself with the Atlantic region.
On Tuesday, the MP for Acadie-Annapolis confirmed he left the Conservative caucus to join the governing Liberals. Taryn Grant has the story.
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