Bill Casey ejected from caucus

So Bill Casey voted against his government’s budget and was promptly kicked out of caucus. Mr. Casey believes that the budget implementation bill does not honour the Atlantic Accord. I agree with Mr. Casey that the 2007 budget does not honour the Atlantic Accord. The Atlantic Accord on equalization allows both Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia to not be penalized in equalization payments as a result of newly found oil revenues. The budget also shortchanges Saskatchewan on oil revenues. In this article, http://www.news1130.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n0605164A , it says “As an MP, it's a very difficult situation to vote against the budget of your own government. You've gotta have guts and I'm proud of him," said fellow Nova Scotian Mark Eyking.

Asked if Liberals would accept Casey into their fold, Eyking said: "Oh, sure would. He's very like-minded to us. He's welcome aboard any time." I don’t consider it likely that Casey would move to the Liberal Party and I did not realize that Casey was very like-minded to the Liberals. Unlike in the cases of former Conservatives Scott Brison, Belinda Stronach, and Garth Turner who all joined the Liberal Party while supporting same-sex marriage, Casey by contrast opposed same-sex marriage at least until 2006. Casey voted against Bill C-38 (the same-sex marriage bill). I do not know whether Casey supports same-sex marriage now because in December 2006 he voted against his government’s motion to restore the old definition of marriage. That makes it unclear to me how supportive he now is of same-sex marriage rights. I have trouble seeing Casey becoming a loyal Liberal like Scott Brison or Garth Turner. It would be more likely that he would remain an independent and simply retire at the next general election. But I do want to congratulate Casey on standing up for his constituents against the promise-breaking government.