Of all the defections to the Carney government, Marilyn Gladu’s is the hardest to reconcile. She was elected as a Conservative for Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong four times. She was a blue Tory, not a red one, espousing both fiscal and social conservative values. She rightly criticized the Carney government pretty much until she joined it. Principle is hard to find either in her defection or in the Liberal Party who accepted her.
Gladu was first elected in 2015 when Stephen Harper led the Conservatives. Trudeau was quick to legalize pot after gaining power, but Gladu was not on board. In the House of Commons, she read a poem urging MPs to “keep our great country safe from all the weed.” In 2016, Maclean’s called her “a loyal Conservative who consistently works across party lines.” Ten years later, she was loyal no longer.
In her second term, Gladu took a stab at the Conservative leadership, but couldn’t raise enough money to qualify. During the pandemic, she told a radio audience that “hydroxychloroquine, with azithromycin and zinc sulphate” offered a “nearly 100 per cent recovery rate.” Although that’s not a partisan comment, it was a lot harder to find among liberals than conservatives.
In 2021, Gladu publicly opposed Bill C-6 that would end conversion therapy in Canada. She wanted exclusions for pastoral care, voluntarily-sought counselling, and prayer. These were conservative Christian concerns. Similarly, in December 2023, Gladu introduced a private member’s bill that would declare December as Christian Heritage Month. It didn’t have time to pass before the last election.
From October 2022 until quite recently, Gladu was the Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Civil Liberties. This is an area where the Liberals have surely failed. Both former prime minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Mark Carney have whittled away at free speech through various bills, the latest being C-9.
Gladu called the Liberals out in the House on March 25 this year. She pointed out how two courts have ruled the federal government trampled Freedom Convoy protesters’ charter rights in its use of the Emergencies Act. Nevertheless, the Liberal government has appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada to oppose the ruling.
The next day, Gladu hammered the government for mismanagement and misplaced priorities. She said, “with all the other problems in the immigration system, including 150,000 frauds, three million people who are supposed to exit the country but are here, and 33,000 criminals whom the government cannot find, the government should put its priorities somewhere else.”
Most tellingly, Gladu supported House of Commons petition E-7025 which called for Parliament to pass legislation that would force a by-election when an MP crosses the floor.
In January, Gladu told a local paper, “Really, the whole point of being an MP is to represent your constituents. So if they’re voting you in under one platform –for you to switch for whatever reasons, just seems to me to not be representing what you’re supposed to be there to represent… We elected you under this banner, and if you don’t want to be under that banner, then we deserve a chance to have a redo.”
That makes perfect sense, and it did to Gladu…until it didn’t. So what changed?
Remarkably, Gladu said her decision was the “best thing” for her constituents, Canada, and herself. She said that many constituents told her they wanted “serious leadership” and a “real plan” to deal with Trump tariffs and have an independent Canadian economy. She cited Carney as a superior choice in this respect and claimed she could do more as an MP who was part of the government than one in opposition.
It’s not clear what Carney is doing that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre would not, nor that the Liberals have a “real plan.” They still seem hell-bent on net zero carbon emissions in contrast to Poilievre, who wants Canada to export as much oil and natural gas as possible and remove industrial carbon taxes. And if her constituents wanted a Liberal, why did she keep winning as a Conservative?
Gladu has also supported restrictions on abortion in certain circumstances, something against the all-out choice mantra of the Liberal party. This left some Liberals wondering if she should join them. For her part, Gladu has said she will “vote with the government” now.
Recent reports suggested as many as eight more MPs are being invited to join the Liberals. CTV asked Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon if his Liberal Party will take just anyone. He claimed his party has “pretty sacred” and “immutable” principles, such as a woman’s right to choose.
These days Canadians wonder if their electoral choice really matters. They thought they knew what they would get in Gladu, and in some important respects, they were wrong. These defections are about power and pragmatism, not principle.
