Turner's Successful Blog

Posted by Kate Butler Nov 14, 2006

It isn’t as thought Garth Turner is the type to avoid controversy: the colourful Member of Parliament from Halton, Ontario sees himself as a renegade politician with a flair for drama. This individuality is clearly seen in the events that have transpired since the Conservative election win in January. More recently, Turner has found himself in hot water, due to his very unique way of expressing himself. Unlike so many politicians out there, Turner believes that he should have direct conversations with his constituents. To facilitate this, he is a vocal proponent of the blog format.

Elected a Conservative, Turner has blogged through this party’s successes (winning the last election, Harper’s improved relationship with President Bush), and Conservative miscues (the David Emerson floor crossing, the Michael Fortier Cabinet appointment). Although he angered certain members of his own party by his actions, Turner was tolerated by the Prime Minister and his advisors because of his party affiliation.

Last month, however, the situation changed as Turner’s blogging finally angered the Conservative MPs and backers enough that he was kicked out of caucus. Confidentiality concerns were the official reason given to the media as to why Turner was asked to leave the Conservative Party, but the MP himself says that it was his critical stance against the Harper government that caused this to happen.

What is so interesting about this whole situation is how the Conservative Party has really been the loser in this whole sad event. Turner’s blog was undoubtedly popular among his constituents, and probably even some other interested Canadians, but he certainly did not generate massive amounts of attention. By turning Turner into the so-called bad guy, the Conservatives have allowed Turner’s blog, and subsequent media coverage of the whole incident to remain in the public’s minds for weeks.

On Tuesday, Turner made headlines again by claiming that he is going to work hard to ensure that more independents get elected to the House of Commons. The mainstream media covered the press conference very thoroughly, and gave Turner numerous opportunities to let his views be known. Perhaps the only surprising thing that came out of this announcement is that we still have not seen more MP’s jump on this bandwagon of free publicity, and use the increasingly important blog.