Today's News: "tired of the petty little games"

In my post yesterday I noted that Conservative MP Michael Ma had crossed the floor to join the Carney Liberals - another Festivus miracle!
Today I saw some more good comments about it, including some chuckles about the timing.
Because first, Ma was at the Conservative Christmas party on Wednesday night:

This is a photo from the @thestar.com from the CPC Christmas Party last night. Ma is smiling with Poilievre.

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— Duane Bratt (@duanebratt.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 9:05 PM

And then he literally crossed the floor to the Liberal party:

Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomes new Liberal MP Michael Ma on stage at the Liberal Christmas party.

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM

I'm afraid that Michael Ma doing this to his former Conservative colleagues right before crossing the floor is absolutely iconic. 10/10, no notes:

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— Glonzo In Exile 🇵🇦🇬🇱🇨🇦🇲🇽🇺🇦 (@glonzo-in-exile.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM

Carney was in fine form, and why not?

CARNEY: "Chris [d'Entremont] and Michael [Ma]... You are going to have a much better time spending Christmas with us than Christmas with the cranks."

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM

There is no joy in Mudville, either:

An anonymous senior Conservative source is saying that Michael Ma will not be the last CPC MP to cross the floor globalnews.ca/news/1157569...

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— Polling Canada (@canadianpolling.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 5:45 PM

Being in today's Conservative caucus is painful:

Steven MacKinnon: "They are required every day to go through this charade of obstruction, and you see it, repeating the same question 40 times in the HOC every day. That is a soul-destroying experience for many Conservative MPs."

- #Francesk🇨🇦

Read on Substack

Evan Scrimshaw analyzes Poilievre's problem:

...The Conservatives spent the dying days of the Trudeau government playing politics on easy mode - understanding that Trudeau would never put them on the back foot, they were able to dictate Canadian politics. Now they can’t, and there’s no sign they’ll ever be able to get back on the front foot ever again. Because if the country comes to understand what Conservative MPs seem to get, Poilievre’s not just going to never be PM, but he’ll go down in history as one of the worst performing Opposition leaders in Canadian history...
...Carney being vulnerable to a Conservative leader isn’t the same as being particularly vulnerable to this Conservative leader. Poilievre is yesterday’s man, an Opposition politician but not one made for the government benches. It is increasingly hard to escape the idea that he is not the man who will bring the Conservatives back to the glory land, because he cannot and will not make the decisions such a journey will necessitate when he’s not running against Trudeau. Whatever the truth of it, the country will be of the view that if you cannot manage your caucus, then you cannot manage the country. Poilievre’s only still in this race because Canadians dislike the Liberal brand despite liking Carney. The longer Carney has to detoxify the Liberal brand and fix the lingering Trudeau problems, the worse Poilievre’s problems will be - if he even makes it that far.

“I expect two more, at least,” one Conservative caucus member told National Post. “Poilievre will continue to die a death of 1,000 cuts, because I’ve never seen a guy who’s so unaware of the room he’s in, and I’ve never seen a guy who just refuses to stop doing stupid things.”

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— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 8:15 PM

And Dale Smith understands the wheels within wheels:

...After both Houses of Parliament rose for the winter break, and just before the Liberals had their Christmas party, Conservative MP Michael Ma crossed the floor to join the Liberal ranks. He’s from Markham—Unionville, which is John McCallum’s old riding, so it’s flipped back-and-forth between the Liberals and Conservatives, and Ma has been almost anonymous in the House of Commons, pretty much never put up in QP to read a script for the sake of clips, so he has no profile in the party. His statement talked about “unity and decisive action” for Canadians, which could translate to the fact that he (and possibly his constituents) is tired of the petty little games that Poilievre and his caucus spend all of their time doing.
It also puts the Liberals one seat away from a workable majority, and the House Leader, Steve MacKinnon, hinted that there are more conversations ongoing with Conservatives, and according to the journalists and pundits on the political talk shows, Ma’s name has never been bandied about as a possibility, so this was a complete surprise. But it will also serve to shut Don Davies up if they do get that one more MP, because Davies will have no leverage to try and blackmail Carney with. So, I guess we’ll see what happens by the time Parliament returns....

Here's looking at you, January:

Pierre Poilievre has lost 3 caucus members in ~ 5 weeks: - 2 to defection to the Liberal side - 1 to a resignation as a lawmaker (after talking to the PM about floor crossing) He could lose a 4th if Aaron Gunn decides to run for B.C. Conservative leader

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— Mickey Djuric (@mickeydjuric.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 6:45 PM

Watching the vast majority of hardcore #PierrePolyester supporters of the Conservative Party melt down over another MP crossing the floor & accusing anyone/everyone of betrayal rather than examining their message & what their party has become is both amusing & sad. #Canada #cdnpoli #mbpoli

— StuOlmstead (@stuolmstead.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM