Canada has had almost a day now to digest the news of Garth Turner’s ousting from the conservative party, and I’ve had plenty of time to read the news, listen to the commentary on talk radio, and to read Garth’s comments on the blog.  I would say that for the most part here in Toronto anyways, the reaction has been similar to mine in that he was connecting well with the people of this riding.  And there are dissenters, which is perfectly fine, I realize that not everyone agrees with my opinion.  Of the two most common arguments against Garth Turner, one I think is reasonable and the other complete garbage.

1. The party feels that they can’t do their business because he’ll discuss what is said on his blog.  Okay, fair enough I can see how people in the caucus might feel that way even though I don’t personally find anything overly offensive about his blogging.  But hey, if that’s how they feel then so be it.  I call this one valid (I disagree with it, but it’s valid).
2. You don’t talk badly about your boss.  If you publicly blasted your boss in a corporate environment, you’d be in big trouble and therefore Garth should be in trouble for challenging the policies of the prime minister and the party.  While it sounds reasonable, there is on huge gaping hole with this argument and I want people to stop using it.  I AM GARTH TURNER’S BOSS, not the prime minister.  He was voted in by the residents of Halton, his job is to work for me, and yes I voted for him because of his stance (and the conservative party’s stance) on financial relief for middle-class families.  As an MP his first duty is to his constituents, he works for me and I pay his salary.  Now if he were in cabinet, paid by and expected to make policy and represent a ministry on behalf of the government then things might be different.  But he’s not.  He is a representative of Halton, he works for me, and I’m the one who gets to comment on his performance.

Whew, got that off my chest and I felt the blood pressure rising as I was pounding out that last paragraph.  It was driving me nuts yesterday, and were the first place I heard this a talk radio show I would have called in and made a stink.  But it wasn’t… the first place I heard it was on 680 News as a “man on the street” piece where they were asking people what would happen if they badmouthed their boss.  Now the “disparaging your boss” line of thinking is everywhere and it’s driving me nuts.

As soon as garth writes on his blog “Man, that Peter Near guy drives me nuts and he dresses funny too” then we can have a conversation about him berating his boss.  Until then, this argument holds no water.