Transcript of Garth Turner's Press Conference

Here's what Garth Turner had to say about his suspension from the Tory caucus during his press conference on Wednesday:

Thank you very much for coming. Obviously, it's appropriate this session is taking place in the National Press building because now I know exactly what it feels like to be a member of the National Press Gallery.

So, I'd like to right now to get to the facts of today's news. So, today I was suspended from the national Conservative caucus. I have not spoken to any party official or to the Prime Minister so I can't exactly tell you why this happened but I heard on televison that there were concerns over caucus confidentiality and my blog. So, one of the first things I'd like to say is that I definitely have an invitation to all Canadians and to you: garth.ca. Go and read it and make up your own mind. I think that's the thing I can say there.

Now, there are some questions that come to mind that I think that in light of today's action that we might all perhaps want to ask each other. Why now? Why today? This week? My comments about the need for an effective green plan or my crusade for income splitting for working families or my views on the need for tolerance in politics or my views on the need to put elected officials in cabinet - they're not new. And I can't answer the question as to why this happened. It's, I think, an important question as to why it happened now and I would certainly recommend you might want to talk to Doug Finlay the director of political operations for the Conservative party to shed some light on that.

Question. Have my comments from time to time crossed the line in terms of party discipline? An important question. Well, as some of you may know, I'm not new to Parliament Hill. I've been here before. I've been a member of parliament. I've been a cabinet minister. I ran as a leadership contender for the Progressive Conservative party. I've been here before and I'm the same guy and I'm doing the same job that I have done in the past. And I'm pretty surprised this time, I must tell you, that all conservative voices are not being welcomed.

Question. Am I a bad Conservative? Have I let my party down? By my standards, no. I've been a Conservative. I've been a Tory all of my adult life. I did not leave my believes [sic] or convictions at the caucus room door - that we need less government or more rights for citizens. I still believe in those things.

Question. What is the proper role of a member of parliament in Ottawa? Again, that's a big question. I believe all MPs and I've said this continuously - I believe all MPs need to answer to the voters first - to the constituents, to the taxpayers. That's who we work for and we answer to our party leaders and our parties themselves second. I think that actually is what Canadians expect and broad-based political parties, especially those that form the government, have to listen to voices from all kinds of people, all over the place. And I think that is, to me, that is just smart politics and I think that that is a good question for today.

Now finally, what comes next? Well, for taxpayers and citizens I would say please don't let Garth Turner take your eye off the ball. I'm not the story. The story here is the green plan. The story here is the next budget. The story here is accountability and tolerance in government and in Ottawa. That's the story. Okay. I'm a one day story. So, don't take your eye off the ball. That's the important thing. And certainly I think all of us need to keep fighting for those issues that I've been writing about and talking about to Canadians, for example, the need for environmental sustainability.

What comes next for me? Well, I guess I don't need to go to caucus meetings anymore. I can actually have one in the shower. But, what I am going to do is go back to my riding and talk to my constituents and talk to my riding association and I'l have a few more town hall meetings. I had 3 of them last week. I guess I'm going to have 3 more next week. I have them continuously but I need to talk to people about what they want.

Am I angry or upset? I'm upset. Of course, I'm upset. It's always upsetting when you lose your family. Am I angry? No. Life's too short and the party was free to make its choice and I certainly respect that but this is not going to stop me for a minute from fighting for those things that I believe are right or from doing this crazy job the way I think people expect that it should be done. So, I'm here to do the people's work and whatever label is put on me, so be it.

Thank you.

Note: This was transcribed by yours truly via a tape of the press conference.

Here are my two previous posts about this news today:

Tory MP Garth Turner Suspended From Caucus
Garth Turner Speaks Out About His Suspension