OTTAWA, April 13, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Edmonton Liberal MP David Kilgour announced he will sit as an independent over Liberal Party support for same-sex “marriage” legislation, in addition to other issues.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I’m not planning on going back to the Conservatives,” Kilgour said, as reported by the CBC. He spent four terms as a Progressive Conservative before crossing the aisle to spend four terms as a Liberal, beginning in 1991. “I’m sitting as an independent, in fact sitting as an independent on the Liberal side,” he added.
“After eight elections, four as a Liberal and four as a conservative, that’s maybe a nice balance and perhaps a good time to stop,” he said. “I know that if I ran as a Liberal in the next election I would be defeated overwhelmingly.”
In January, Kilgour derided Prime Minister Paul Martin for forcing ministers to toe the party line on same-sex “marriage.” “I think it’s deeply unfair to bludgeon your ministers . . . into voting with the Prime Minister on the issue,” he said, as reported by the Sun.
Kilgour opposed an amendment to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, Bill C-13, in 2003, which proposed that, “No person shall knowingly ‘experiment on or harvest an embryo.’”
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Pat O’Brien, who said he is entertaining an invitation to join the Conservative Party, will not announce his decision until the results of a Commons defence committee hearing, of which he is a part, are released. “I want to finish that work and see it through to completion,” O’Brien said Tuesday, as reported by the CP. He said the announcement will come next week, after the defence committee report is released.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Liberal MP Kilgour Denounces Prime Minister’s Coercion on Gay ‘Marriage’ Vote
Conservatives Court Liberal Pro-Life, Pro-Marriage MP Pat O’Brien
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