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<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="/link.php?id=20125" target="_blank">Comuzzi turfed from Liberal caucus</a> (click to view)

<strong>Category:</strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=News_Links&file=category&catid=1" target="_blank">Political</a>
<strong>Posted By: </strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=Your_Account&op=userinfo&username=Wullu" target="_blank">Wullu</a>
<strong>Date: </strong> 2007-03-21 10:24:12
<strong>Canadian</strong>

   

Not the best pic of him..LOL I am reminded of one of the two old guys in the balcony from the muppets.

   

That's one way to get rid of the old guard....

   

YES! for once in my life NO SHOW JOE does something!

woohoo, props to him for doing what he thought was right. maybe I'll vote for him next election.

   

He won't be running in the next election and Dion is likely to democratically (Liberal style) ensure anyone running must possess a vagina.

I guess your next MP will be a Conservative.

   

I hope so, Tbay has been red since I can remember. Commuzzi's held that spot for a long time

   

Divisions over the federal budget have claimed their first casualty. Former cabinet minister Joe Comuzzi has been expelled from the Liberal caucus for supporting the Conservative fiscal plan.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Wednesday that parliamentary tradition requires MPs to toe the party line on important confidence votes such as the budget.

"He's not any more part of the caucus,'' Dion said after a caucus meeting.

"A vote on the budget, like a vote on a throne speech, is a vote of confidence. You cannot vote against the caucus on it.''

At the start of question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Dion was taunted by Tory MPs with chants of "We want Joe! We want Joe!" before the Speaker restored order.

Comuzzi, a 73-year-old veteran MP for Thunder Bay, said the budget was important for his riding.

"It's for a single issue that's of absolute critical importance to all the people in Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario, and that's the cancer research centre ... and hopefully it's going to be funded in this budget," he told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Tuesday.


The centre would bring 300 jobs to the struggling city on the shores of Lake Superior. "To vote against it, every citizen in Thunder Bay would be tremendously upset with me," Comuzzi said.


In a written statement Tuesday, Dion said the decision to expel Comuzzi was not taken lightly.


"I encourage the discussion of opinions on matters of policy. However, it is not possible to support this bad Conservative budget and to be a member of the Liberal caucus," he wrote. "Mr. Comuzzi has made it very clear that he will vote in favour of the budget. A vote on a budget or a Throne Speech is always a vote of confidence. The unavoidable consequence of voting against the caucus on these votes is to no longer be part of the caucus."

Comuzzi will now sit as an Independent. He had already announced that he won't seek re-election.

While the Bloc Quebecois has announced it will support the budget, ensuring its passage, Conservatives are not expected to get a lot of other support from the rest of the opposition.

The NDP and Liberals are pressing for changes to the government's fiscal package. Some MPs admit that voting down the budget would not sit well with constituents.

Commentators claim that some Quebec Liberal MPs are uneasy about voting against the budget.

They are pleased with a $2.2-billion transfer payment windfall -- that Liberal Premier Jean Charest has already earmarked for tax cuts.

But other provincial premiers call the Harper budget a package of broken promises.

Newfoundland and Saskatchewan say the Conservatives are backing out of deals to share resource and energy revenues. They accuse the Harper government of spending money in central Canada to boost Tory support, ahead of the next election.

On Wednesday during question period, Dion echoed that accusation.

Harper responded that the government is fulfilling its obligations regarding offshore resources under the Atlantic Accord.

"This is an example of why the leader of the Opposition should have read the budget before he took the position on it," said Harper. "If he'd done that, Mr. Speaker, maybe he doesn't have to kick out members of his own party who understand that this is a good budget for Canadians."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... hub=Canada

   

I'm sure that the Conservatives can find a nice, comfy seat for Mr. Comuzzi on the government's side of the aisle.

It almost seems funny: yesterday, Comuzzi was laughing saying "what can they do to me?", then leaned over and told Mike Duffy that Ralph Goodale doesn't have anything to teach him (and he's right. Goodale is a real clown). Yet on the photo on CTV, Comuzzi looks mad. And rightfully so.

Hopefully, some more Liberals (particularly from Quebec) stand up to Dion on this, too.

   

I give props to Commuzzi on this, I'd like to see him on the conservative side, thunder bay has been red for far too long

   

You can fault a politician for listening to his constituents. I remember when David Kilgour got kicked out of the PC party for voting against the GST. It made him a hero in Edmonton and untouchable in subsequent elections. If he had run in the last one, the Cons wouldn't have swept Alberta (he was an independant at the time).

   

A lot of people are upset because they kikcked him out of caucus simply for declaring his intention to vote for the budget, instead of following proper traditional procedure, and waiting until after he had already voted to give him the boot.

Dion may have just provoked a potential revolt within his caucus. He's going to be the Stockwell Day of the Liberal party, I think.

   

This is whats wrong with politics now, and democracy at that, how can it be that when one person stands for his or her constituence and for what they believe the people want the battle between leaders comes in the way, its not democracy its just a war between concervatives and liberals, instead of representing the canadian populus they are too busy being full of themselves and they end up opposing everything the other suggests.

   

Sorry, same post posted twice by accident.

   

Hehe, my head moved backwards at the first sight of that pic.

   

I'd like to see how Ken Boshcoff gets treated in Thunder bay after this as he's our other Lib MP up there. apparently support was pretty overwhelming in tbay for comuzzi. Boshcoff might be untouchable though, he was the mayor for a decade and pretty popular

   

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