MP Marilyn Gladu
Nelson Zandbergen
Farmers Forum
SARNIA-LAMBTON — Lambton County’s agricultural community was left reeling as their longtime Conservative MP dramatically defected to the Liberal Party. The April 8 “floor-crossing” by Marilyn Gladu (LIB Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong) put the Carney Liberals within one seat of a House of Commons majority, which the governing party then surpassed with three by-election wins on April 13.
“We’ve come to find out what her end game was,” Port Lambton cashcropper Robert Johnston said of Gladu, who was elected four times as a Conservative and even sought the party leadership before her abrupt changeover.
Johnston said that a local Conservative party insider told him that supporters “will be spitting nails” over the defection. “People are pretty bent out of shape over this.”
That includes Johnston, who displayed a Gladu reelection sign on his farm a year ago, personally delivered by the MP herself at the time.
With the Carney Liberals now firmly in control, Johnston believes the government will move quickly to implement its agenda. “I think they are going to start changing things real quick,” he said. “There are going to be some things that bubble to the top of the septic tank. What do they have planned to hit us with next?”
“It’s going to be hell on earth, and people will have their eyes opened when that unrealized capital gains tax arrives in the mailbox,” he also warned, anticipating that “the shit will hit the fan.”
He scoffed at his MP’s justification for the switch as being better for the local riding. “Her goose is cooked” if she chooses to seek reelection, he predicted.
Because of her social conservatism, Gladu’s entry into the Liberal fold has even raised the eyebrows of some of her new caucus colleagues. She was a Freedom Convoy supporter, participated in the 2017 National March for Life in Ottawa and in 2021 opposed a bill that banned conversion therapy.
Back in her district, the local backlash against Gladu has been fuelled by her own previous stance against changing sides. In January 2026, she said that MPs who switch parties should face their constituents in a by-election.
Lambton County cashcropper Emery Huszka agreed with his MPs’ original position — that such maneuvers shouldn’t be allowed. “I personally, firmly, believe MP’s or MPP’s ought to only be able to leave their party to sit as an independent,” Huszka said. Only when the next election occurs should they try to represent another party.
Though “speechless” at her move, Huszka would “reserve judgement out of respect” for Gladu’s previous work in the community. “Marilyn has been a very accessible MP for us from an agricultural standpoint,” he admitted, suggesting a “considerable amount of thought” must have gone into the decision.
But while he voted for her in the past, Huszka can’t support the Liberals. “I have zero intention of crossing over to support a government that held their hands up for Justin Trudeau” and “mismanagement that has not had to account for their blunders,” he said.
The local backlash to the floor-crossing was “very venomous” and “very, very angry,” he reported. “She certainly kicked the hornets’ nest down here with both feet.”
MP Gladu’s constituency office entrance after she announced her switch to the Liberals on April 8.
At least two online petitions are demanding Gladu’s resignation, garnering over 10,000 signatures combined by April 12. Commenters on the change.org petitions have been blunt, accusing the MP of betrayal and a breach of trust.
The sentiment of betrayal is echoed across county lines. Greg Glasier, a cashcropper in neighboring Essex County, labelled the floor-crossing a “mockery” of the democratic process. “They’re going to have to stop that,” Glasier told Farmers Forum. He noted that among rural, conservative-leaning voters, the move is viewed quite simply as “cheating.”
Lambton County cashcropper Dan Konzelmann expressed “disappointment” at Gladu’s change of party. He agreed that MPs who switch banners should be required to face a by-election.
Gladu is the latest of a group of five MPs, four Conservatives and one NDP member, who have crossed the aisle to join the Liberals since the 2025 general election a year ago. While floor-crossing is nothing new, it’s exceedingly rare for a minority government to achieve majority control this way. According to media accounts, the Carney government is the first to pull it off in Canadian history and may be the only example in any country governed by the British parliamentary system.
