Idlout says she felt she was ‘betraying’ her constituents by staying with NDP

OTTAWA — Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said Wednesday feedback from constituents calling on her to join the Liberal government is what ultimately led her to cross the floor.

In her first interview as a Liberal MP, Idlout told The Canadian Press that staying with the NDP felt like she was “betraying” Nunavummiut, and that started to weigh on her.

“It started to every day to feel like I was betraying the wrong people, that I was betraying my constituents,” Idlout said.

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“And with leaving the NDP, I feel like I’m betraying them too, but at least I keep my focus on making sure that my constituents always come first.”

Idlout was introduced as the Liberal party’s newest MP on Wednesday. She received a roaring ovation from her new Liberal colleagues, who chanted her name as she walked into their weekly caucus meeting on Parliament Hill.

Idlout said she was not promised anything by Carney in return for her floor-crossing and she won’t be accompanying him on his upcoming trip to Norway and the United Kingdom.

Idlout’s defection puts Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government just two seats shy of a majority, with three byelections set to take place next month — two of them in ridings considered to be Liberal strongholds.

She is the fourth MP to cross the floor to the Liberals since the fall and the first from the NDP. Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux all left the Conservatives to join the Liberals between November and February.

Idlout said she first considered joining the Liberals in June, just over a month after the NDP lost party status in a crushing election defeat that left it with just seven MPs.

She said she stayed on because caucus members committed to helping to rebuild the party.

She said that commitment was fading, notably after NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice signalled his intent to run provincially in Quebec.

“I needed to remind myself who voted for me, for Lori Idlout,” she said.

Idlout was not critical of her former party.

“I understand how much anger and pain that I might have caused with the NDP,” she said. “I have nothing bad against them to say. We tried, but it takes so much more resources just to be heard. And I just needed to show Nunavummiut that I’m willing to do what I can to get more for Nunavut.”

In January, as rumours circulated that the Liberals were courting more MPs to join their side, Idlout said publicly she would not be crossing the floor.

Idlout told The Canadian Press she asked the Liberal party for space in December, a request she said was respected.

Idlout said her first communication of her intent to cross the floor came when she contacted Nunavut Liberal riding association director Kirt Ejesiak to get the association’s support. While she couldn’t pinpoint when that happened, it was after January, she said.

Reached by phone, Ejesiak also said he couldn’t say when Idlout first reached out or whether it came as a phone call, email, text message or face-to-face conversation. He deferred The Canadian Press to a statement from him released by the Liberal party Tuesday morning.

The makeup of politics in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories is unique in Canada in that there are no political parties. Territorial legislatures operate under a consensus government system where elected MLAs all run as Independents.

Those elected choose a premier and cabinet from among themselves. Federal elections are the only arenas where voters in the region are asked to consider a candidate’s party affiliation.

“A lot of people in the North vote for who they know, for the individual, more so than the party,” said Leona Aglukkaq, a former Nunavut Conservative MP who served in the cabinet of former prime minister Stephen Harper.

“I’m not entirely surprised about (Idlout crossing). The NDP has seven members, it’s got no party status and it’s not very effective to influence anything for the North.”

Aglukkaq said it will be up to Nunavut voters to decide whether crossing to the Liberals was a good move.

“Being in the NDP, my view, it was not going to do anything for the North,” Aglukkaq said, adding she wished Idlout the best.

“I think people in Nunavut vote more for the person than the party in a lot of cases,” added former Nunavut NDP MP Jack Anawak.

“I think they look at people and think who they think can do a good job. It really boils down to, in today’s world, campaigning is also what counts. How people come across, who covers more communities.”

Idlout is Nunavut’s only MP and served as a critical opposition voice on Arctic issues.

She has been a harsh critic of the government’s record on Indigenous issues and consultation, and has been known to heckle from the opposition benches — particularly on issues touching on food insecurity among Inuit children.

Idlout said her frustration with the Liberal party boiled down to a lack of clear answers to her questions about matters affecting her constituents. She said she hopes that will change now that she’s in government.

“When I’m in the Liberal party, then I can be engaged in those conversations to make sure that we’re actually making those changes,” Idlout said.

“I was starting to realize that maybe a better way that I could do my work to make sure that I’m representing Nunavummiut is to be inside and to help make sure that we don’t have to raise those kinds of questions.”