Well, a high profile progressive Conservative has crossed the floor and tipped the balence of power in the House.

What balls. What an ambitious move. Here you have Belinda Stonach with less than a year of experience in government - who has already run for the leadership of one party, switching sides and getting a cabinet position (Minister of HRDC)in the current government.

That about does it for killing the budget bill this Thursday.

The government will not fall and the Conservatives have a black eye.

Who knows what the fall out of this will be... Stonach has strong ties to Mike Harris (who's name is often spoken in the same breath as 'jerkface' by many Ontarians) and Brian Mulroney (who's name is often spoken in the same breat as 'dinkus' by many Canadians). And apparently Stonach has a relationship with Peter MacKay (the former Leader of the PC party that made a deal with the Reform Alliance).

She certainly appears to be socially progressive and fiscally conservative - so that fits well with the Liberal party.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Stronach run for the leadership of the Liberals in a few years. That'd be interesting. But, for now she has emphatically stated that NO she will not seak the leadership... well not until Martin retires I suppose.

What can be gathered from both Stonach and Martin at the press conference is that this is not an opportunistic move because the Thursday budget vote is not a lock. It could still go the other way. And that could very well put Stonach at a disadvanatage in an upcoming election running as a Liberal.

Time will tell. I can't wait for the Conservative response to this event.

andre