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FIRST READING: What the floor-crossers got in return

New titles, free trips, and tighter control of the millions flowing into their ridings

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FIRST READING: What the floor-crossers got in return Back to video

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has now become the fourth opposition member to join the Liberals in just the last five months, joining three Conservative MPs.

While there have been more than 100 MP floor-crossings since Canada’s 1867 founding, the circumstances have never looked quite like this. In any prior instance where multiple MPs shifted party loyalties in a short period of time, it was almost always because of a seismic political issue such as First World War conscription or Quebec separatism.

But in this case, all four floor-crossers gave vague reasons for the move, if they even tried to explain it at all. Idlout’s statement, issued by the Liberal Party, explained her switch as endorsing “strong and ambitious government that makes decisions with Nunavut — not only about Nunavut.”

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Unmentioned is that the four also saw personal benefits for their defection to the government benches. A cursory summary is........

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