Kelly McParland: Why would Liberals need values when they have power?

Delegates attend the Liberal Party of Canada convention in Montreal, Friday, April 10, 2026. Photo by Graham Hughes /The Canadian Press

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When I was a comparative youth, there was an Alberta rancher named Jack Horner who was among the Toriest of Tories.

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Known as Cactus Jack, he favoured capital punishment, disapproved of bilingualism and the CBC, had doubts about unemployment benefits and the right to strike, and kept a keen eye out for the sneaking creep of socialism. He loved John Diefenbaker and disapproved of his successors, especially fellow Albertan Joe Clark.

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A year after losing the leadership to Clark in 1976, Horner defected to the Liberals despite disagreeing with mostly everything they preached. Pierre Trudeau’s government briefly got an MP from Alberta, Horner scored a cabinet post and, after getting clobbered in the next two elections, a pleasant sinecure on the board of Canadian National Railways.

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Cynical, yes, but what, you may ask, has ever been more cynical than Canada’s highly successful, principles-optional Liberal party? Horner fit right in. Mark Carney ought to assign his old Parliamentary pew to Marilyn Gladu, the latest in the rising tide of floor-crossers heading Carney’s way. Gladu may be the most Horner-like of the recent turncoats, having bitterly criticized earlier Conservative defectees before skittering over to join them in the Carney camp.

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The question is, is it wrong?

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Every party has potential floor-crossers. MPs are human. They have egos, they get upset, bored, angry at the boss, they feel under-appreciated and they jump to the competition. Conservatives have welcomed floor-crossers just as readily as have Liberals. It makes the receiving party look good and the other party look bad, even if the defector is no great catch.

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Still, I don’t recall any previous government setting out on a calculated campaign to woo defectors in a bid to scrape together a majority. Carney’s people have been anything but subtle in their efforts. They might as well have posted banners in the halls of Parliament, like Netflix or Apple, offering 30-day free trials followed by attractive committee postings and overseas flights accompanying the prime minister. Gladu is the fifth to succumb, one of four Conservatives and one New Democrat. There’s talk of more.

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What they have in common is not a lot; none is a major figure, a golden catch, or the best player on the other team somehow acquired in a lopsided trade from a snoozing general manager. What they do have is the ability to cast a vote according to further Liberal aspirations, rather than Conservative or NDP aspirations as was previously the case.

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If you work at a bank and don’t like the boss, you can quit and join another bank. But banks are banks. You don’t choose them for their ideals. Political parties are different in that they’re supposed to have a set of values that fuel their policies. By seeking office under one party, you profess to share its beliefs. By quitting to join another party either your beliefs have changed or they’ve proved to be negotiable. By accepting you into the fold, the new party signals it really doesn’t care what you do believe, if anything, as long as you vote as told.