Harper's Achilles Heel?

I don't much like Garth Turner, but his reaction to Mike Chong's decision to leave cabinet was a clear message that Harper's enemies believe they have found his Achilles heel. According to the Guelph Mercury, Turner said: "You're either with him (Stephen Harper) or you're out of the party. There's no room for dissent here and that's the message."

Harper's strict party discipline has many advantages, but when it totally stifles the ability of MPs to speak their minds there's a serious problem a case and point is a recent gag order on Dianne Haskett the party's star candidate in a London by election. The party instructed Dianne not to answer a questionnaire from a local pro-family group. As a result voters in the election were robbed of the opportunity to make an educated decision. A secondary result appears to be that many of her potential voters didn't turn out, leaving Dianne in a third place finish.

Traditionally, the Conservative party has been a party of democracy and free votes, one that empowered individual MPs. The party should return to these roots or give its opposition an easy target to attack them.

BTW, Suzanne at Big Blue Wave has a list of other bloggers who are speaking out against this injustice.