Reading reactions around the web to the forced exit of Garth Turner from caucus, it seems I was not the only one to be surprised by it. The timing seems strange - although he's been a maverick for some time, to me he'd actually seemed (to me) to be less so these days than he was immediately following the election.
I can see the reasons for the expulsion, but I can't help regretting it a little, if only for his pushing the income-splitting issue, which was something I was quite keen on.
Of course the media will have a field day with the news, painting the Conservative party as intolerant, and Harper as a dictator. The Tories will have a much harder time with this than did Paul Martin's hapless government with Carolyn Parrish. Still, it will blow over in time and now Garth can be as colourful as he likes. From the makeover at http://garth.ca and the press conference, it seems he's losing no time in doing just that.
