Former Liberal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould walked into in Hellenic Centre in downtown Vancouver late Monday evening to Elton John´s, `I´m Still Standing,` as the first Independent MP elected in more than a decade.Booted from the Liberal caucus last spring after she raised ethical concerns about Justin Trudeau´s handling of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, she told supporters in her urban riding of Vancouver Granville she will `work with all members of Parliament,` and would `certainly work with the incoming government.``This win means it is OK to stand up for what you believe in. To speak your truth, to act with integrity,` she told the cheering crowd.It will be a tough road ahead for the We Wai Kai First Nation woman who was Canada´s first Indigenous attorney general, say experts and those who have been there before. But it´s not impossible to make a difference, even all by herself.Green party Leader Elizabeth May was that party´s lone representative for eight years, before being joined by Paul Manly after he won a byelection in Nanaimo-Ladysmith in May 2019. They are now a group of three, with the addition of Jenica Atwin, who was just elected in Fredericton, New Brunswick. But without the money and resources that comes with twelve seat official party status, they are in a similar situation as Wilson-Raybould.`The system is geared against independents,` said May in a phone interview Tuesday from her home in Sidney, B.C., calling Wilson-Raybould´s re-election an `enormous accomplishment`Without official party status, she won´t have party staffers do to research, faces limited time during question period and can´t be a member of committees. But she can put forward private members bills, as May has done successfully on two occasions, and propose amendments to bills.`You can make laws, you can make changes, and as an Independent MP you have your own voice,` May said.There was some speculation during the campaign that Wilson-Raybould would join the Greens. May sa ...
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