1/ A week after I resigned, I published this article explaining my motives and why I said the CPC was morally and intellectually corrupt.

The SCN-L affair is another proof that I was right. There is no major difference between Libs and Cons.

#CronyCapitalismIsTheProblem

https://twitter.com/nationalpost/status/1035614030998712320

2/ To understand my real motives, my critics should read up on “public choice theory.” Developed by James Buchanan, who won a Nobel prize for economics in 1986, it explains how interest groups hijack political debates and capture politicians...

3/ ... winning huge benefits in the form of subsidies, trade protection, fiscal or legal privileges and other favourable regulations. They are willing to devote enormous lobbying effort and large amounts of money to get them.

4/ This dynamic, of “concentrated benefits versus dispersed costs,” explains why we have so many bad policies that are obviously not in the public’s interest, why it is so difficult to reform such policies, and why government keeps growing.

5/ This is what I have been concerned with for the past 12 years: How to reconcile my desire to serve the public with a political dynamic entirely dominated by pandering and vote-buying strategies. Conservatives play that game as much as the Liberals.

6/ As I said when I resigned, I have come to the conclusion that the CPC cannot be reformed and that if I want to do politics differently, I need to do it elsewhere.

How do I plan to do this? By systematically reversing the dynamic described by public choice theory.

7/ That is, by taking positions based on principles I believe in and that accord with what I think is the public interest; and by resisting pressure from interest groups seeking favours, despite the short-term political cost.

8/ I recognize this is a risky enterprise. But the payoff for Canadians could be huge.

I know many Canadians are fed up with the traditional way of doing politics. We’ll see if enough of them are ready to follow me.