Refresh my memory:

Does a candidate from the last election quitting and deciding to run for a party that got 1/400th of the popular vote that your party got in the last election indicate momentum, or implosion.

I got this release from the PC Party recently:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1, 2005
Stephen Butcher Resigns from Harper’s Conservatives to Run As Progressive Canadian Candidate
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Today Stephen Butcher of Sudbury joined the growing list of those choosing to have their names on the ballot in their constituencies as Progressive Canadian (PC) Party candidates when voters go to the polls on January 23, 2006. Butcher chose to resign his position as a member of the Board of the Sudbury Riding association of the Conservative Party of Canada. His letter of resignation is included below. PC Party Leader Tracy Parsons says,” I am extremely pleased that Mr. Butcher feels that he can best represent his constituency under the Progressive Canadian banner. He is a welcome addition to the team. Mr. Butcher's joining us is another example of why Canadians need the alternative of a socially progressive, fiscally responsible political party."The Progressive Canadian (PC) Party is a registered Federal Political Party comprised of progressive-conservative minded Canadians rebuilding from the roots of the former Progressive Conservative Party. For more information on the PC Party, its policies, structure or general information, go to http://www.progressivecanadian.org/ or call 866-812-6972.

Text of Stephen Butcher’s Letter of Resignation from CPC

Bob Bateman
President Sudbury Riding Association
Conservative Party of Canada

Bob,

Please accept my letter of resignation from the Board of the Sudbury Riding association of the Conservative Party of Canada, effective immediately.

Further please remove my name as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, effective immediately.

As we have previously spoken about, I no longer feel the Conservative Party of Canada, under the leadership of Stephen Harper and the present National Council, represent the core values of the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada prior to the merger of the two parties.

I feel that the National Council and Stephen Harper do not lead this party with a desire to make life for Canadians better but instead are in a mission to promote their religious beliefs as their primary objective. I do believe that Harper and the National Council will make anti abortion and anti gay legislation a priority of the government if the Conservative Party of Canada form a majority in parliament.

It was disturbing to me that in our Sudbury Riding candidate election this past spring party guidelines were not followed.

The Conservative Party of Canada candidate election guidelines dictate that the election of a special interest candidate will be over ruled at the national level. The election of Kevin Serviss as the Sudbury Riding candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada clearly violated these guidelines. The vast majority ( greater than 95%) of people who voted for Serviss were not members of the Conservative Party until just prior to the election. None of these people contributed to Conservative Party, Sudbury Riding, in the last election. In addition these people are all members of one church in Sudbury, a church where Serviss is the minister. This is clearly a violation of the candidate election guidelines, yet the national office of the Conservative Party had no problem with Serviss's election and refused to overturn his candidacy.

According to an article in the Toronto Star newspaper this election of religious based candidates has occurred in more than 30 Ontario ridings. How many are there across Canada??

We only have to look south at the present administration of the Republican Party of George W. Bush to see how bad a political party, led by religious based elected officials, can lead a country. The U.S. is at war because Bush believes God directed him to do so. Members of the U.S Supreme Court are appointed not by their knowledge of the law but their religious beliefs, and recent appointments to the Federal Drug Administration scientific board were appointed not for their knowledge of science but for their religious beliefs. Several States in the U.S. no longer allow the teaching of evolution in public schools because in some elected officials minds evolution goes against the their understanding of the bible.

It is a well understood and common sense rule of life, for thousands of years, that church and state should stay separate.

I think it is time to take a stand against this type of movement in Canada.

I begin my stand today with my resignation from the Conservative Party of Canada.

I believe that Canadians, with true Conservative values, would be better represented by the Progressive Canadian Party of Canada. (My emphasis)

This election and next parliament should be about fixing our Health Care, Post Secondary Education, Defence/Peacekeeping, Federal/Provincial Relations, Challenges Facing Aboriginal People, The Environment, Making Our Cities Work, How We Build A More Caring Society. Issues all Canadians can stand behind and support.

Yours truly,

Stephen Butcher

Wow. Harper's bleeding on all sides. Conservatives to the Liberals? Well that's to be expected, they were only in it for the power anyway, if you believe Peter MacKay. Of course I tried that once, didn't work out too well. But, Conservatives to the PC Party? There might be some real momentum here.

All I'm sayin' Stephen is, it doesn't look good.