Bill Casey, MP for Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley in Nova Scotia, has been kicked out of the Conservative Party.
Earlier today, he voted against the government's budget, which, of course, isn't generally appreciated by the prime minister. Casey was, up until a few hours ago, the longest-serving Conservative MP in the House of Commons.
The National Post reported that Casey voted against the budget implementation act "on the grounds (the budget) breaks Mr. Harper's 2006 federal election campaign promise to honour terms of the 2005 Atlantic Accord. The accord excluded 100 per cent of offshore resource revenues in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador from the equalization formula used to redistribute wealth among the provinces."
One assumes, for the time being, Casey will sit as an independent.
That means it's time again to rack up the seat scores in the House of Commons.
We'll start with the numbers that resulted from the January 23 election, and move from there:
Conservatives (124) + Emerson - Turner + Khan - Casey = 124
Liberals (103) - Emerson - Fontana + Pearson - Khan + Turner - Comuzzi = 101
Bloc Quebecois (51) - Sauvageau + Gravel - Thibault = 50
Independents (1) + Turner - Turner + Comuzzi + Thibault + Casey = 4
For background on the other twists that have led to the above moves, visit this old blog post.