We should all salute Garth Turner for his courage in daring to be an MP who is not afraid to speak out, and to voice his opinions. That is as much the job of an MP as voting with your party is.
We should also salute Garth Turner for his use of blogging as a means to communicate with his constituents, and with other Canadians. In this, he was far in advance of most other MPs. Let us hope that the next leader of the Liberal Party copies his example, and has a weekly blog to inform Liberals and Canadians of his or her thoughts and plans.
Finally, Garth’s loss is really Canada’s loss.
The extent of the loss becomes apparent when we realize that an outspoken MP has been replaced by a muzzled, non-talking, non-communicating member of a political party which has adopted policies regarding centralized messages and the power of the leader which are in some ways more extreme than those practised by totalitarian leaders of the past, such as Lenin and Stalin.
How on earth can we say that democracy in Canada is helped when an MP who actually communicated his views publicly to his constituents and to the public, is replaced by an MP who no doubt will be as muzzled as all Tory MPs appear to be?
Sad to see you go, Garth.
And I hope that one day you rise again.
