Royce Koop: The 'Red Tory' excuse for d’Entremont floor crossing is bogus

Of all the questions surrounding Chris d’Entremont’s decision to switch teams from the Conservatives to the Liberals earlier this week, the biggest is: why? d’Entremont has provided a somewhat unconvincing ideological explanation, saying that he as a “Red Tory” felt uncomfortable working under leader Pierre Poilievre.

“Over the last number of months,” d’Entremont explained, “I wasn’t feeling I was aligned with the ideals of what the leader of the Opposition had been talking about.”

This explanation seems to have been readily and uncritically accepted, in part because it accords with elite wisdom that the Conservative party under Poilievre has veered to the right. To his discredit, d’Entremont allowed Liberal Whip Mark Gerretsen to speak on his behalf, saying, “Chris d’Entremont is a prog