Garth Turner: Rebel Without a Clause

Yes his name is Garth- don't hold it against him. It should be obvious from the portrait above that this cats got more going on then most MPs. He's only been on the job for a couple of weeks and he's already shown he's got true grit. Perhaps, he was unable to spout the party line while keeping a straight face, or maybe he just couldn't walk past reporters quickly enough. Whatever the reason Garth decided to tell it like it is and publicly chastised his party for plucking Emerson from the Liberal ranks. Soon after his straight-talking scrum, Garth sadly declared to the world he may have a little influence in the new Harper government because he didn't tow the line.

Garth is a fairly well-known name, he was an PC MP from 88-93, and even ran against Kim Campbell for the leadership of the party. In private life he's been a successful columnist, editor, broadcaster and is even the CEO of a television production enterprise (this bio brought to you by...). So it's not surprising his name was being kicked around when the pundits were speculating about Harper's possible cabinet picks. Unfortunately, there was just too many shining stars in the new Con caucus, and poor old Garth was left out in the cold. Surely it's merely coincidence that he decided to take the high-road the day after the new Garth-free cabinet was sworn in ;-)

For those you who can't get enough of this leather-clad warrior for truth, you can read more about the world according to Garth at his spiffy weblog. He already seems to have a bit of a fan club there. I really have the feeling this guy is going places- moving on up in the world. Yep...higher up into the back-benches ;-)

So lets add it all up:
Straight-shooting MP +
already has a fan club +
personal political blog +
no cabinet position +
high goofball/eccentric quotient +
f@#$ this, I own my own business +
leather jacket
=

Canada's next independent MP!


So how does my math look?



By the way, here's some sage financial advice from Garth:

If you own Nortel, or a mutual fund holding it, don't bail out now.… If you do not own Nortel, then this is the time to start accumulating it.
Garth Turner, Conservative candidate (Halton) November 27th 2000 at the start of the stock's plummet from $50 to pennies a share.

Some more wise words from Garth:

I am constantly amazed at the assumption people make that they can manage their own finances, most people can't. They don't have a clue how to pick stocks
Garth Turner in a 2002 personal investment column regarding those unfortunate enough to have lost on Nortel.