Wajid Khan, MP for Mississauga-Streetsville left the Liberal Party of Canada today to join the Conservative Party of Canada and the Government Caucus. This is a major coup for the Conservatives and a major blow to the Liberals.
Stéphane Dion has taken a major hit on this. He is being protrayed as overly partisan in demanding that Mr. Khan stop advising the Prime Minister on Middle Eastern Affairs.
I have to say that I think Mr. Khan did the right thing in offering to, as a M.P., help the government in the aftermath of the arrests in Toronto last year of people suspected of planning terrorist acts. If he has done the right thing since, I am still debating this. My gut says yes. I believe that at the very least, he is speaking out against those who share the same religion as him that use it as an excuse to commit acts of violence. This is important, people listen more to their peers and those they have things in commons with.
The damage this has done to Dion is hard to measure immediately. I believe it is a lot of damage. This is the first impression of him as Liberal leader that people are getting. He appears to be very partisan and more interested in politicial calculations than getting work done. This is something that people do not like in politicians and one of the times that people believe is wrong in politics. If the Conservatives can personify the concept of partisan politics in Dion, they will be able to hold onto their current seats and potential pick up seats in the GTA.
[CTV Coverage Here](http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate?tf=/ctv/mar/video/new_player.html&cf=ctv/mar/ctv.cfg&hub=TopStories&video_link_high=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2007/01/05/ctvvideologger2_500kbps_2007_01_05_1168015684.wmv&video_link_low=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2007/01/05/ctvvideologger2_218kbps_2007_01_05_1168014065.wmv&clip_start=00:00:22.02&clip_end=00:01:30.09&clip_caption=CTV News: David Akin on the dissention and discord&clip_id=ctvnews.20070105.00177000-00177668-clip1&subhub=video&no_ads=&sortdate=20070105&slug=khan_harper_070105&archive=CTVNews)
CBC Coverage Here