Quiz time. Who made these statements?

“A politician who crosses the aisle has shown tremendous courage in putting their principles first.”

KINSELLA: The Conservative Party's problem isn't floor-crossing – it's leadership Back to video

“Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, I believe members of Parliament should have that freedom (to cross the floor to another political party) … In my observation, the only parties that really have this as an obsession are the parties that no one ever crosses to.”

And, my personal favorite: “Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat.”

The first two speakers are former Conservative Party leaders Andrew Scheer and Stephen Harper, respectively. The last quote is attributed to one Winston Churchill, who you may have heard of.

Winston Churchill a human weathervane

The greatest Parliamentarian of all time may or may not have actually uttered those words (and, given that Churchill was possessed of a formidable wit, it’s likely he did). But this much is true: Churchill crossed the floor of the British Parliament more than once. In 1904, from the Conservatives to the Liberals. In 1924, he journeyed back to the Conservatives. In between, he was an anti-socialist independent.

Churchill was a human weathervane: he went wherever the political winds took him.

So, to all of you Tories kvetching about the pro-convoy so-con kook Marilyn Gladu leaving the Conservatives to join the Liberals? Take a Valium. Chill out. It happens.

And your party has benefitted from floor-crossing, too.

Leona Alleslev left the Grits to join the Tories, for example. So did David Emerson, and he was rewarded with a cabinet post for doing so.

And, at the provincial level, your team has benefitted from floor-crossers many, many times – including just a couple weeks ago, when a Member of Quebec’s National Assembly jumped from the government to the Conservative Party of Quebec.

Pierre Poilievre says floor-crossing MPs duty-bound to respect voters' wishes

GOLDSTEIN: The shameless hypocrisy of Tory turncoat Marilyn Gladu

EDITORIAL: Carney will get a tainted majority government

So, it’s like former prime minister Harper said: the people who complain about floor-crossing are usually the ones watching the receding backs of a former colleague. Stop your complaining, and focus on the real problem.

Your real problem, to put a fine point on it, is the trim, smiling guy in the front row: Pierre Poilievre.

Under Poilievre, the Conservative Party is losing. Check any poll: the Tories are in deep trouble, and Poilievre doesn’t seem to have a plan to address it.

It’s easy to feel sorry for the guy, however. He’s now – finally – doing what this writer (and others) urged him to do.

He’s smiling more. He’s laughing at himself. He’s offering suggestions, and not always opposition. He’s being constructive. He’s been crystal-clear about his opposition to Donald Trump, including when appearing on the podcast of Trump’s pal, Joe Rogan. He’s making all the right moves – partly on his own initiative, and partly at the urging of his smart communications director Katy Merrifield.

But despite all that, Poilievre isn’t getting any credit from the people who matter most – the voters.

Nanos says that more than twice as many voters favour Liberal Leader Mark Carney over Poilievre. Several pollsters say the Grits are double-digits ahead of the Tories. And, in a seat projection this week by aggregator Polling Canada, an election held today might see Carney win as many as 255 seats – and Poilievre as few as 68.

Mark Carney is more popular than Pierre Poilievre

The problem, then, isn’t floor-crossing – it’s leadership.

Fairly or not – and no one ever said politics is fair – Mark Carney is more popular than Pierre Poilievre. And Conservative caucus members are voting with their feet: four in just the past year.

Will Mark Carney regret turning his big-tent Liberals into a big-tent circus, and welcoming the likes of Marilyn Gladu? I suspect he will. He’ll regret, too, the former NDP Ontario MPP-turned federal Liberal Doly Begum, slated to win a Toronto-area byelection on Monday. Begum once called the Liberals “evil,” while Gladu has said some Liberal MPs “should be in prison.”

How Carney can embrace those two is beyond the understanding of us mere mortals.

But that’s politics. Nobody ever accused any politicians of being consistent or selfless.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Katy Merrifield, who did so much to make Pierre Poilievre look good?

She quit this week, too.

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