Just days before leaving for an extended holiday,dodging volcanoes along the way, I read Liberal Leader Micheal Ignatieff’s announcment regarding his new approach to the long gun registry. Instead of allowing MPs the ability to vote in the interests of their constituents, as he did during second reading of a long-gun private member’s Bill, Mr. Ignatieff has reversed his position and stated that third reading of the Bill will now be a whipped (or forced) Party vote.

Forcing a sitting MP or prospective candidate to vote the Party position on an issue, knowing in advance that it runs contrary to the interests of the constituents in the Riding clearly runs contrary to the principles of representative democracy. This is the primary reason why I left Jack Layton’s NDP.

As a result, I have informed the President of the Kootenay-Columbia Liberal Riding Association that I am withdrawing from seeking the federal Liberal nomination for Kootenay-Columbia.

There is something clearly wrong with our democratic system when the internal strategic interests of a political party come before the interests of the people we claim to serve. An obvious recent example is the whipped vote by both the Conservatives and the Liberals to help pass the federal implementation legislation for the HST(otherwise known as the Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreement between the Government of Canada and The Government of British Columbia ).

Perhaps it’s time that an independent candidate runs to be the next Member of Parliament for Kootenay-Columbia. I think the Constituents of this Riding would be well served by it.

Brent Bush

Kimberley