Tory MP Garth Turner Suspended From Caucus

Breaking...

MP Rahim Jaffer announced on Wednesday that Garth Turner was suspended by the Ontario caucus and a vote was taken at the national level as well to extend that suspension. Turner will now sit as an independent.

Jaffer gave two reasons for giving Turner the boot: concerns about Turner's lack of confidentiality and complaints about personal attacks on 'blog sites', which must mean his blog The Turner Report [see update below].

This would be a good chance for Harper to use this creative lie:

'I didn't muzzle my cabinet ministers [or MPs]. I just told them not to talk about anything except quantum physics. None of them have taken up that opportunity yet. That's all.'

Meanwhile, back at the new poll ranch:



P.S.: Dear Tories, Can you please kick out John Baird next? Thanks.

Update: From commenter knb, it appears that Turner's blog has either been scrapped or that a high volume of traffic has made it unavailable. You can view a cached version here. For cached versions of specific topics that he's addressed on his site, simply Google his name and the topic and choose the cached version of the link.

Media reports say that Turner will hold a press conference sometime today to address his suspension.

Update: I just need to add that it was pretty darn ironic watching Rahim Jaffer making that announcement about Turner today. Remember this?

Jaffer is known for a much-publicized 2001 incident in which he claimed to have done a radio interview. The interview was actually done by an aide, Matthew Johnston, who impersonated Jaffer, as Jaffer was opening his new Timothy's World Coffee shop down the street at the same time as the interview. Jaffer subsequently apologized publicly and in the House of Commons for this falsehood, and was suspended from his caucus position for several months. The incident provided much fodder for the satirical current affairs show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, most notably when Rick Mercer performed a rap based on Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady", with the lyrics "Will the real Rahim Jaffer please stand up, please stand up?".