Politics: Canada: Libs expel former Cabinet Member from party, will sit as Independent in House of Commons

Today, CBC carried the news that Stephan Dion, Liberal Party leader in Canada's House of Commons has expelled a longtime member of the Lib Party caucus. Joe Comuzzi announced his intention to vote in favour of the Conservative govt's 2007 Budget.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has expelled former cabinet minister Joe Comuzzi from the party's caucus because he plans to support the Conservative government's budget.

"He's not anymore part of the caucus," Dion said Wednesday after a caucus meeting. He said he had spoken with the Thunder Bay, Ont., MP who confirmed he would vote for the budget.

Dion said it was parliamentary tradition for MPs to follow party line on confidence votes such as budgets.

"A vote on the budget, like a vote on a throne speech, is a vote of confidence. You cannot vote against the caucus on it."

"He's well aware, after 19 years in the House, of the consequences of what he's doing," Dion said.

Comuzzi had already demonstrated how much a person and legislator of principle is, in opposing his party when he was a Lib cabinet member, yet voted against the govt on its proposal to redefine "marrriage," to introduce gmarriage (generic marriage) to afford Lesbian intimate unions and male-to-male intimate unions not their own recognitions as distinctive kinds of intimate unions, but to dismantle the distincitiveness in law of the trad definition of marriage entirely. Because the Lib Party insisted that all Cabinet Ministers opposed to the brain-dead legislation, had to leave cabinet, Comuzzi had to resign from his position as Minister of State. He had continued in the Liberal Parlimanetary caucus.

Regarding his whithdrawal from the Lib causus today, Comuzzi explained that the new Conserv budget specifies "funding for a molecular cancer research centre that employs 300 people in his riding." The riding contains the city of Thunder Bay, in the otherwise rural and tourism riding of the same name, in northern Ontario. The riding has been subject to Lib indifference in recent times. The Conservs' explicit provision of funds for the facility was probably the tipping factor among several that seem to have left Comuzzi more and more disillusioned with the direction of his former Party; the new budget of Finance Minister, Flaherty, and Prime Minister, Stephen Harper allows Comuzzi to explain himself with great clarity to his own constituents. Being an Independent now, Comuzzi is not obligated to support the Conservative Party govt in all respects, if any. At the same time, he could at some point join in the Opposition to bringd down the govt on some other issue. Conceivably, this could lead to his reinstatement in the Lib caucus, were he to be elected.