Lise St-Denis, an NDP rookie of little achievement, has defected to the moribund Liberal Party.

It’s hard to stifle a yawn. The Liberals now have 35 seats in the House of Commons. The NDP has 102.

Timed to coincide with the Liberal policy convention later this week, the press conference had folks scratching their heads.

St-Denis’ reasons for betraying her constituents (most electors in Canada vote party, not person) were absurdly unconvincing. She listened to Liberal speeches in the House, she says, and found herself in disagreement with NDP positions.

Bob Rae is ecstatic, or at least is pretending to be: “I was struck by her sincerity and her integrity,” he said.

Andrew Coyne sums up:

So she worked for the NDP for 10 years, ran for them, but didn’t know what their positions were on Senate, Libya, Champlain Bridge…

Not much of a haul here for the Libs, to be blunt. And the folks who elected her, in Jean Chrétien’s old riding, are likely a little upset at the moment.

Yet another argument for banning floor-crossing, one of the most undemocratic practices in our current system. Make a by-election mandatory and see how things go. Enough with stealth Liberals—and Conservatives—making a mockery of the electoral process.

In the meantime, the NDP has more weighty things on its mind, I’m sure. Like what to serve for supper during its leadership convention in the Spring.