Ottawa — Paul Martin trotted out one of his toughest Tory critics Wednesday as the poster boy for a campaign to recruit the "progressive" wing of the old Progressive Conservative Party.
Two days before Mr. Martin forms a government, Tory MP and former leadership candidate Scott Brison defected to the Liberals, saying he feels closer to Mr. Martin's more conservative Liberal Party than to a Conservative Party dominated by the Canadian Alliance.
Mr. Martin beamed as he sat beside Mr. Brison, an investment banker from Nova Scotia long viewed as one of the Tories' leading lights, at a rare event: a full news conference called to show off a defecting MP. By contrast, the Quebec caucus chair had introduced Bloc Québécois MP Robert Lanctôt, who joined the Liberals last week, even though Mr. Martin was also in Montreal that day for a fundraiser.
Mr. Brison ran fourth in the Conservative leadership election earlier this year. The prominent MP could be whisked into Mr. Martin's cabinet, although both men insisted no deal was made.
The incoming prime minister not only displayed Mr. Brison as a symbol of Tory disaffection, but announced a campaign to bring split-off "progressive" PCs who may be uncomfortable with the party's merger with the Canadian Alliance.
"It is my intention to reach out very directly to those of a mind similar to Scott Brison. I've asked for his advice to open a dialogue with those who are undecided about the way forward," he said.
Tories dismissed Mr. Brison's defection as a cynical move designed to stigmatize the new party as a far-right group that cannot appeal to mainstream conservatives. Still, it was another blow to the efforts to retain so-called red Tories.
Two other Tory MPs — Manitoba's Rick Borotsik, who attended Mr. Brison's press conference yesterday to offer "moral support," and Quebec's André Bachand — are also considering crossing over to the Liberals.
Another two, former leader Joe Clark and New Brunswick's John Herron, have decided to sit as "independent Progressive Conservatives" in the Commons.
Mr. Martin's strategists, fresh from luring a Bloc defector as a sign of trouble in the Quebec separatist party, are keen to demonstrate that the progressive wing of the old Tory party is being split off, and that the new party is right wing, not centrist.
The strategists believe that would clear a broad swath in the middle of the political spectrum that would expand Liberal support.
Liberal pollster Michael Marzolini said internal polls suggest the Liberals would do substantially better against a Conservative Party that voters believe is the successor of the Alliance than it would against the same entity if it were perceived to be like the Progressive Conservative Party.
Mr. Brison, who as Tory finance critic had often blasted Mr. Martin as a tax-raising Liberal, said yesterday that the Progressive Conservative Party he knew is disappearing, and that, with Mr. Martin as leader, he believes the Liberals echo his Tory views.
"I do believe that in fact he will represent what I have been raised on, and that is progressive conservative values that are socially progressive and fiscally conservative," he said.
Mr. Brison, who is gay, said that a recent suggestion from Alliance MP Larry Spencer that homosexuality should be criminalized did not spark his departure, but suggested that anti-gay comments made him feel less comfortable.
Tory Leader Peter MacKay, who negotiated the merger with the Canadian Alliance, blasted Mr. Brison's defection as part of a campaign to "stigmatize" the new Conservative Party of Canada as a far-right organization that mainstream Tories could not support.
Mr. MacKay called the departure "a completely cynical, manipulative move."
He said Mr. Brison was motivated by bitterness over losing the leadership race in May, and by a desire for advancement in his political career. Mr. Martin is to announce his cabinet tomorrow.
"We'll see what's in it for Scott," he said. "Something's in it for Scott."
Mr. Martin said he had not offered Mr. Brison any guarantees of a cabinet post, and Mr. Brison said he had not been promised anything.
"Absolutely not," he said.
But Mr. Brison had difficulty explaining why he voted for the merger between the PC Party and the Canadian Alliance and then decided to quit.
He said the PC Party was in a tight squeeze and he felt that voting no to the merger would weaken the Tories and divide the opposition. He also said the merger has caused the Tories to vanish.
His Nova Scotia riding of Kings-Hants has suffered "great angst" about the merger, he added.
As Tory finance critic, Mr. Brison had criticized Mr. Martin as a tax-and-spend liberal, and as a Tory leadership candidate he had called him an indecisive leader who dodged public debate and refused to answer questions.
Last year, he wrote an article calling Mr. Martin's years as finance minister a "decade of lost opportunity for Canada."
Yesterday, Mr. Brison, in effect, suggested that such criticism was partisan play-acting, not a real conflict in views.
"We as members of Parliament, as partisans, play roles and participate in debates, but the most important thing to consider is the future of the country," he said.
In Kings-Hants, a traditional Tory riding in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, the popular Mr. Brison was expected to bring some of his votes with him to the Liberals.
While Mr. MacKay suggested he would be defeated in the next election, Tory riding president Paul Hobson was not as confident.
"Scott has a lot of personal support in this riding," Mr. Hobson said.
"This is going to leave a lot of traditional PC voters unsure of where to put their votes.
"And those may go to Scott and the Liberals depending on the Conservative candidate that comes forth."
