I Like Maverick Politicians....

because they add a little colour to politics and without them what would we rant about on Blogs but they can go to far and it appears Turner did so. He ran under the Conservative banner and logic says that when he became part of the team he would play by the team rules. If he played for the Leafs, was a member of the NDP, employed by any organization, etc. he can expect his walking papers if the doesn't play by the rules.

Two polls, first from CTV and second from The Sun seem to indicate that electorate from both ends of the political spectrum agree.

Garth Turner was kicked out of the Tory caucus, a direct result of his blog postings. What do you think?

Turner was asking for trouble		2240 votes	(67 %)
He was unfairly ejected		1098 votes	(33 %)
Total Votes: 3338 Did Maverick MP Garth Turner deserve to be booted from the Conservative caucus? Yes, enough's enough 57% No, what about free speech? 43% Total Votes for this Question: 1564 Turner warned a month ago about his blogging Updated Thu. Oct. 19 2006 7:21 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff While maverick MP Garth Turner says he has no idea why the Conservative caucus kicked him out, CTV News has learned he was warned a month ago to stop playing reporter on his blog. "Garth Turner is trying to wrap himself in the veil of innocence," Robert Fife, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, said Wednesday. "But he knows why he got kicked out." "Why now? What actually happened today or yesterday to precipitate this?" Turner told a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday. Fife said the party had been warning Turner since the summer to stop with the injudicious blogging. Before MPs returned to Parliament, the Conservatives held a special caucus meeting to lay down the law with Turner, he said. On Sept. 15, Turner wrote: "In case you are wondering, I am still in caucus! Wonders never cease." As to suggestions he broke caucus confidentiality through injudicious postings on his widely-read blog, Turner said, "go and read it, and make up your own mind." Fife said the final straw for many Tories was using the blog to say kind things about Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The Conservatives' Clean Air Act is to be tabled on Thursday. Rahim Jaffer, the national caucus chair, said the maverick MP from Halton, Ont. was kicked out on a unanimous recommendation by the Ontario caucus. The MPs felt "the theme of confidentiality was not being respected" and that Turner was too critical of his colleagues, said Jaffer, speaking to reporters after the weekly Conservative caucus meeting. He said the suspension was due in part to Turner's blog, which he often uses as a soapbox to make his opinions known. "This is not something that one person has felt. There were attacks that were made on individuals, including the prime minister, on his blog at different times," Jaffer said. Jaffer said Turner's indiscretions were hurting the caucus' ability to function behind closed doors. Turner said he suspected his views on the government's green plan, the next budget and the need for tolerance in politics may have been bigger factors. He also suggested that reporters talk to Doug Finley, director of political operations for the Conservative Party. "I know Doug Finley was in the room this morning, and that happens extremely rarely," Turner said. "In fact, I've never seen it before. So that may give a clue as to whether there was something else to this." If he had more information, "we'd all know a little more clearly what my crime was, and whether the punishment fits it." Turner has already been moved to the other side of the house. Sen. Marjory LeBreton told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live that caucus members felt they couldn't discuss things "without having it appear on his blog and therefore in the media." Turner responded to his removal on his blog, in an entry headlined "Holy smokes!" "I have said here many times, and consistently since I was elected this last time, that I work for the voters -- the people, the taxpayers," Turner wrote. "After that I heed my party and the political establishment. All are important, of course, but the people come first." While Turner professes his independence, LeBreton said, "how can a political party or a government or an opposition party function that way?" The PMO has made it clear Turner's suspension was not Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision, and he was just as surprised as anyone else, Fife said. Don Martin, a Calgary Herald political columnist, said on Mike Duffy Live that technical workers were unplugging Turner's computer equipment moments after the vote was completed. An important decision like kicking out a caucus member was unlikely to be taken without the prime minister knowing about it, he said. Martin referred to Finley as Harper's "hatchet man." Harper's office has denied having anything to do with Turner's suspension. Turner is a small-C conservative who was disappointed to have been left out of Harper's cabinet earlier this year. Turner's departure leaves the standings in the Commons: 124 Conservatives, 101 Liberals, 50 Bloc Quebecois, 29 NDP, 2 independents. There are two vacant seats. With reports from CTV's Craig Oliver and Robert Fife