Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Conservative Member of Parliament Alex Ruff says he was shocked by the recent floor crossing of colleague Michael Ma to the Liberal Party.
“I was very surprised by Mr. Ma’s decision,” said Ruff on the Open Line show on 89.3 CFOS FM Tuesday.
Ma announced on December 11th, he was leaving the federal Conservative party for the Liberals just after Parliament rose for the holidays.
Ruff referred to a December 2nd house of Commons speech by Ma, who is the MP for Markham-Unionville, where Ruff says, “He absolutely ripped the Liberal government apart, just as he was debating the Budget Implementation Act — called them ‘team feudalism’ and then on the Wednesday night he was at the Conservative Christmas party.”
Ruff, like other members of his party have also said, saw no obvious indication Ma was planning to cross the floor.
While Ruff says it was “very much a shock to me,” he adds, “To me it frankly, doesn’t impact the people of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound. It doesn’t impact the challenges and concerns I’m hearing almost on a daily basis from our constituents– food inflation up 4.7 per cent year over year right now. People are struggling to put food on the table and find a place to live and even find a good job to some extent.”
Ruff adds, “Ultimately, Mr, Ma is going to answer to his constituents. The only feedback I’ve got is people very upset with the fact that he chose to do that.”
Ruff says, “I’m sure his voters will let him know how they felt about his decision come next federal election.”
He continues, “Personally, I feel if somebody on the team doesn’t like where we’re going as a party or has issues with the leadership, voice those concerns. That’s my point. Mr. Ma never once voiced any concerns that I’m aware of to anybody on the team and ultimately then if you’re that upset, voice those concerns and if you can’t come to some sort of agreement, sit as an independent and then make your decision in the next federal election.”
He adds, “Up and switching teams– we’re not hockey teams, right? It’s not like you can make trades and go back and forth.”
Ruff says, “We don’t get to parliament by virtue necessarily of everything that we do individually. We get there because the people we represent voted us in to represent them. Some people vote based on the individual candidate, I think that is a bigger thing in the rural ridings. Some people vote strictly on the party, some people vote on the leadership of the party, so ultimately, you’ve got to respect all– sort of, three wishes in my opinion,” says Ruff who describes the floor crossing as drastic.
“In the the end, to me, it’s not what I’m hearing about,” says Ruff who notes, “I’m more concerned about the concerns that are facing the everyday Canadians and constituents of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.”
“What Mr. Ma decides to do and how he decides to vote is just one vote out of 343. I’m concerned about how I vote and what I need to do to do my best to represent the people of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound,” says Ruff.
Ma’s floor crossing puts the liberals within one seat of a majority government at 171 of the 172 seats needed, something it didn’t win in the last election with 169 seats giving it a minority government, but another earlier floor crossing by Nova Scotia Conservative turned Liberal Member of Parliament Chris d’Entremont gave the liberals another seat. The conservatives also appear to have lost Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux who announced back in November that he would resign in the spring.