The late Ronald Reagan famously said: "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."That quote sprang to mind when we heard Saturday morning that Blair Wilson, soon-to-be-former Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, had just become the first MP for the Green Party of Canada.The question is who's selling out more - Wilson or Green Party leader Elizabeth May.Wilson, of course, never met a headline he didn't love - witness his musings about running for the federal Liberal leadership in the summer of 2006, after a mere six months as MP, not to mention his brazen attempts this summer to talk his way back into the Liberal Party after they rightly threw him out for failing to disclose information to them when seeking their candidacy. His sudden love of environmental issues and "firm commitment to democracy," when only a few weeks ago he was clamouring to be let back into the Liberal fold, are as transparent as his chances of being re-elected (under any party banner) are small.So what do these strange bedfellows gain from each other's company?Wilson gains another party to run with, having been abandoned by his first choice, as well as another bout of publicity - well, notoriety, anyway - for becoming the first Green MP in Canadian history.The Greens, of course, gain their first MP (however tarnished), their own dose of pre-election publicity and, most importantly, an additional excuse to clamour for a place at the televised leaders' debates, which has been denied in the past because party had no elected MPs.Sadly for May, it still doesn't. Wilson was elected as a Liberal, and his supposed conversion on the road to Damascus (or is that Kyoto?) is nothing more than a cynical ploy on both his and May's parts. Yes, party switching is not unheard of (stand up, David Emerson and Belinda Stronach), but it cannot and should not be used in this cynical manner. Wilson is essentially renting his soon-to-be-vacated seat in Parliament to another party - and with it, the votes of more than 20,000 people in this riding who chose a Liberal candidate, not a Green one.The only good thing about Blair Wilson's supposed greenwashing is that it will likely be short-lived, with an election call expected as early as today. Wilson's own tarnished reputation, combined with what we suspect will be voter disgust at this cheap and desperate trick, will help ensure that the only Green in the House of Commons after the next election will be the colour of the seats.
