Former Conservative backbencher MP Brent Rathgeber resigned the Conservative caucus tonight, citing the government’s lack of accountability as the reason. This comes as he tried to pass private members Bill C-461 which aimed to release public sector salaries but got shot down by the Conservative government. Rathgeber was one of the 9 MPs that revolted in support of Stephen Woodworth’s right to discuss abortion politics and stood against PMO muzzling.

Two senators were allegedly behind the order to whitewash the independent audit to protect former Conservative senator Mike Duffy. One of which, David Tkachuk, chairs the Internal Economics committee, which is where the senate decided to send Duffy’s case for a second look. The other is long time loyal advisor to Stephen Harper, Carolyn Stewart Olsen.

While the PMO and Prime Minister Stephen Harper think it is alright to use taxpayer money to fund a campaign of smears and deceit, a growing number of Conservative MPs are standing up for their principle and rejecting petty and desperate politics. Recently the Liberal Party got a leak of “10-percenter” ads the Conservatives planned to mail constituents on tax-payer dimes to attempt to smear Justin Trudeau.

Speaker Andrew Scheer ruled on Conservative backbench MP Mark Warawa’s complaint finding that his parliamentary privilege had not been violated by Conservative muzzling and effectively left the door open for these 12 MPs to either revolt, leave the party, or vote for a Liberal motion on the topic tomorrow.

Conservative MPs are breaking ranks and speaking out against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s quest to muzzle them. As the reasons for breaking ranks vary, one reason has 9 backbench MPs on the same page: freedom of speech, or in laments terms, the lack of it.