An outspoken Canadian lawmaker kicked out of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party denied Monday he was set to take up a top post in the Green Party.
VANCOUVER — An outspoken Canadian lawmaker kicked out of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party denied Monday he was set to take up a top post in the Green Party.
But Garth Turner hinted he planned to strike back at the Conservatives, saying he has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday to discuss communications from party leaders with "disturbing insights" about the government.
"I think we should talk about it. This matters a lot more than the fate of one (politically) homeless MP," Turner wrote Monday in one of two cryptic messages he has posted on his political blog over the past two days.
Turner, a Toronto-area member of the House of Commons, was forced to become an independent in October when the federal Conservatives kicked him out of their caucus over allegations he had been leaking party secrets.
Turner maintains he was punished for disagreeing with some of the policies of Harper's minority government, including on the environment.
Turner talked to Green Party officials after he was sanctioned by the Conservatives, so word of the news conference prompted speculation that he was about to become the small party's first member of Parliament.
"I won't be telling you that I am joining the Green Party as deputy leader, as is being reported," Turner wrote, suggesting that both supporters and opponents of that idea "should just chill".
Turner said he decided to hold the Tuesday news conference in Ottawa - when Parliament is on break - after receiving letters Friday from three Conservative officials. He also said he had written privately to Harper about the matter.
"Mostly, tomorrow is about Canadian voters, about what our political leaders promise and deliver, and about what I've just learned," Turner wrote in a blog note Monday.
Turner said he would also talk about the Green Party Tuesday and its new national leader Elizabeth May, and would make his political intentions clear in the next few months.
Source: Reuters
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