I expect my MP and MPP to vote and act according to his or her conscience and principles. I will not vote for any party that demands absolute loyalty from its members.  I also will not vote for any candidate who votes the party line over his conscience.  I thought that it was established in international law that following orders or the party line was not a defence of your actions.  If a party member’s conscience won’t let him vote for a particular item, he should not be whipped to vote for that item even if the caucus has decided in favour of it. The platform of the party should not take precedence over the individual member’s conscience and convictions.  I also don’t believe in my elected representative making all of his decisions on the basis of the will of his constituents; I elect him to exercise his judgement.  If I don’t agree with his judgement an a majority of his votes then I’ll not vote for him the next time up. Electors should have some idea where a candidate stands by the party he is a member of, but should realize that,  just like the voter, the candidate may not agree with the complete party platform. I respect the political party that allows dissent  and encourages its members to make their views known. Until the same sex marriage vote last year I always thought the NDP was such a party, but then they whipped their members to vote for the bill and tossed out the MP who could not bring herself to vote against her conscience and religion. I was equally upset with the Liberals who allowed backbenchers to vote their conscience, but not Cabinet members though this is more understandable than denying all; quiting the cabinet is not the same as quiting the party.  And today I’m not all that thrilled with Harper’s Conservatives for throwing Garth Turner out of caucus. I finish this with the individual member who switches parties shortly after an election just to be in power; such members should be required to resign their seat and go back to the voters to see if they still represent the majority in their riding. Such behaviour has nothing to do with either concience or principals.