Channeling his inner DJ Khaled, Prime Minister Mark Carney has gotten “another one.” A floor-crosser, that is. 

Lori Idlout is the latest MP to cross over to the government benches, this time from the NDP, making her the fourth floor-crosser and edging the Liberals ever closer to that coveted 172 seat majority. The Liberals now have 170 seats in the House of Commons, with byelections coming that could put them over the top. 

Idlout represents Canada’s largest and northernmost riding, Nunavut, which in the last two decades has been represented by all three major federal parties and only ended up edging towards the NDP by 77 votes in the last federal election. 

A lot of the immediate partisan reaction — particularly from right-wing voices — was to paint Idlout as nothing more than a rank opportunist who was defying the democratic will of her constituents by going over to the Liberals. It’s not unsurprising, given a good chunk of the right-wing commentators and social media influencers that have been given much prominence under Poilievre’s leadership of the Conservative Party have painted all three of Idlout’s Conservative floor-crossing brethren in exactly the same light. 

There are certainly similarities with her predecessors. Michael Ma was at the Conservative Christmas party the day before he defected to the Liberals, not unlike how Idlout was on stage with........

© National Observer