Larry Spencer

Larry Spencer, a Canadian Alliance MP for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, was expelled from the Alliance caucus in November 2003 after making controversial comments to a newspaper calling for the recriminalization of homosexuality and suggesting that a decades-old conspiracy had led to its decriminalization. The comments caused a national uproar and Alliance leader Stephen Harper moved quickly to remove Spencer from caucus. When the Alliance merged with the PCs to form the Conservative Party in February 2004, Spencer was not invited to join the new party and sat as an Independent for the remainder of the Parliament.

Spencer did not seek re-election in the 2004 election. His expulsion was notable because it showed Stephen Harper's determination to moderate the new Conservative Party's image on social issues, even at the cost of losing a western MP. The incident became a cautionary tale about the cultural tensions within the conservative movement — between social conservatives (particularly from the Canadian Alliance's reform base) and the party leadership's desire to appeal to mainstream voters.