Member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong Marilyn Gladu is focusing on how to move forward in her new role with the Liberal Party of Canada.
Gladu spoke at the Kiwanis Club of Sarnia-Lambton Golden K meeting on Tuesday, August 4.
She said that, although she is sticking to her Canada Strong approach she's had since the tariff battle with the United States began before she crossed the floor in April, she believes she's in a better place now to bring funding and infrastructure to her riding. And she says crossing the floor in Parliament was her only option.
"I couldn't have stayed. Honestly, it was a very toxic environment with the Conservatives," she said. "I was supposed to be the shadow minister of civil liberties, but I was continually denied the ability to speak out on these subjects. (Being told) No, the leader will speak on that. No, the leader will message on that, and you can parrot what he says. So you can ask the food pricing question 35 more times. That was what I was doing, and I think my skill set is bigger than that, and so there wasn't an option to remain, in my view."
The call from the Liberals for her to cross the floor was unexpected and came after she had already planned on leaving as a member of parliament altogether.
"Absolutely believe that the Conservative leader cannot win. He has no intention of leaving. They have no plan," said Gladu. "Clearly, he doesn't understand that he doesn't have the credentials, and he's never negotiated anything, and he doesn't have a team to do that. He doesn't plan. My intent was to leave and go back to engineering."
Although people within the riding are divided, she believes that the majority of the response about her crossing has been positive.
"Seventy-five per cent of the people I run into are very happy with my decision. They think I did the right thing. They think that the Prime Minister has the right vision, is doing the right stuff for the country, and that it will be better for the community," she said. "But the ones that are angry are going to continue to be angry, and I really don't know what they expected. As I said, what was I really going to accomplish with two and a half more years of asking the food price in question? Getting no money for the riding? I would have said no, I'm going back to engineering, but I never thought that the Liberals would invite me to join them. That was a huge shocker to me, and they've been wonderful to me."
Gladu stated she wants to focus on what's next for the riding and how her new position with the federal Liberals enables her to push for more infrastructure to be built in the area, including a packaging plant and agricultural processing facility.
