http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/05/17/stronach-liberals050517.html
Conservative Stronach joins Liberals

Last Updated Tue, 17 May 2005 12:02:41 EDT
CBC News

[This means that many of the progressive aspects of the Federal Budget
instigated by New Democratic Leader Jack layton may survive.]

OTTAWA - Belinda Stronach, who ran for the leadership of the Conservative
party in early 2004, has crossed the floor to the Liberal party and will
sit in Paul Martin's cabinet.

The millionaire businesswoman becomes minister of human resources and
skills development, the prime minister said Tuesday morning. She and will
also help the Liberals implement the recommendations in the Gomery report
on the scandal-plagued sponsorship program when it is delivered later this
year.

Stronach's defection could keep Martin's minority government in power as it
faces two key votes on its 2005 budget Thursday.

Paul Martin welcomes Belinda Stronach into the Liberal party.
"After difficult reflection, I reached a conclusion," Stronach told
reporters in Ottawa. "I cannot exaggerate how hard this was for me, but the
political crisis affecting Canada is too risky and dangerous for blind
partisanship."

She also said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is not sensitive to the
needs of all parts of the country, and is jeopardizing national unity by
allying himself to the Bloc Québécois.

"The country must come first," she said.

Stronach said that someday, the Conservatives will grow and strengthen to
become a worthy challenger to the Liberals. In the meantime, she thinks her
place is with a party that is more responsive to the needs of cities, women
and young people.

She also said she is looking forward to tackling the Gomery recommendations
when they are presented.

"Only when the people of Canada have renewed confidence and faith in the
systems of government can we return to economic prosperity."

Small-L liberal in Conservative ranks

Stronach is a small-L liberal who has not always been comfortable within
the Conservative ranks, especially on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Last week, she said it would be unfortunate if the Liberal government fell
before the 2005 budget was passed because it contained measures on
municipal funding that were of great importance to her constituents in the
Toronto-area riding of Newmarket-Aurora.

The former president and CEO of auto parts maker Magna International Inc.
lost the Conservative leadership race to Harper in March 2004.

Stronach's father, Magna founder Frank Stronach, ran unsuccessfully for the
federal Liberals in 1988 when John Turner was leader of the party.

Stronach said she broached the matter with former Ontario premier David
Peterson, who is a family friend, after running into him and his wife at an
event in Toronto last week.

Peterson, a Liberal who led a minority government in Ontario in the 1980s
before winning his first majority, spoke to her at some length before
arranging conversations with federal Liberals and eventually the prime
minister.

'I can count,' Martin says of budget vote

The alliance with Stronach could keep Martin's minority government alive in
two key budget votes expected Thursday.

Her defection from the Conservatives gives the Liberal-NDP coalition on the
budget a total of 151 votes, not including Speaker Peter Milliken, a
Liberal MP who votes only in the case of a tie.

The Conservatives and Bloc have a total of 152 votes.

There are three Independent MPs, one of whom, Carolyn Parrish, has said she
will vote with the Liberals. The other two, Chuck Cadman and David Kilgour,
have not said which way they will vote.

"We still don't know whether the budget will pass or not, [but] I've got to
tell you, I can count," said a visibly pleased Martin, calling Stronach a
"gutsy" new part of his team.

In the June 2004 election, Stronach beat Liberal Martha Hall-Findlay in her
riding by 689 votes.

Martin said Hall-Findlay, who has already earned the Liberal nomination for
Newmarket-Aurora for the next election, has agreed to step aside in favour
of Stronach's candidacy.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Lucienne Robillard had been leading the
Department of Human Resources and Skills Development since mid-January,
when former minister Tony Valeri was shuffled to handle the immigration
portfolio.

Robillard will now be intergovernmental affairs minister only.

Pressed on how her decision will affect her romantic relationship with
Central Nova MP Peter MacKay, the deputy leader of the Conservatives,
Stronach called that a "personal matter" that she did not intend to comment
upon.

She also said she had the "greatest respect" for MacKay.

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