As most Canadians have probably heard, Conservative MP Garth Turner was ousted from caucus yesterday for maintaining his own blog and revealing what Stephen Harper deems to be private matters. I’m not really sure where I stand on this, or if I really have a strong opinion one way or another, but here are my thoughts.

First of all, I heard Turner’s press conference yesterday afternoon, as well as a snippet of his interview with Peter Shurman on CFRB. This is a man who has embraced social media. He basically told Peter that the “internetization” of politics is the future. And he may well be right. There will be many who find his openness refreshing and his honesty a welcome change to Harper’s notorious secrecy. I’m not a huge Harper fan. I don’t agree with many of his policies or side with him on most issues, but I do think that as a Prime Minister, he’s doing alright. And he has a right to keep his MPs quiet, even if it’s annoying and borderline weird. We pay you, we deserve to know what’s going on behind closed doors. But only to a certain extent.

I never read Turner’s blog before today. I didn’t read the posts that got him in trouble, but from what I’ve heard, he maybe went a little too far. There are risks to revealing too much about government. It could hurt future plans or in extreme situations, even put Canadian lives at risk. Look at the trouble the miliary got into for posting images from Afghanistan- it could show the Taliban where the soldiers are hiding and reveal too much about their plans. So mayby Turner went too far. Maybe this social media stuff doesn’t really belong in government. Of course it’s great to have access to your MP (and he does allow comments on his blog, which I commend), but maybe using a phone or letters, or just an email address is enough for some positions.

The Star reports that it was Turner’s opposition to some Conservative policies that got him turfed. If that’s the case, I see both sides on that. If Turner was so opposed to so many of the policies, maybe he should have left voluntarily already. Harper is someone who values privacy above all else, so it would stand to guess that he probably doesn’t like dissent in the ranks (and really, what boss does). It’s important that the caucus appear unified to be strong and powerful, so having someone express his opposition certainly wouldn’t help the cause.

So in summary (since I wasn’t all that cohesive in thought), I applaud Turner for his honesty and I respect his stance on social media and politics. But I think I actually side with Harper on this one. He was totally within his right to protect his MPs and the Conservative caucus, even if his privacy policy is a tad ridiculous at times.

Does social media belong in politics? Or does it have it’s boundaries? What are your thoughts on the matter? I would be interested to know where you stand on this issue. But if expressing your view may get you fired, please think twice before sharing….