SCOTT BRISON

The Nova Scotia MP was first elected in 1997 as a Progressive Conservative and in 2003 ran for the leadership of that party, losing to Peter MacKay.

Though later that year he voted in favour of the PC’s merging with the Canadian Alliance to form the new Conservative party, only days after the merger he announced he was going to sit as a Liberal.

In later interviews, he said he was told by those in the Canadian Alliance, including Stephen Harper, that the fact he was gay wouldn’t hold back his political career within the new party.

But he said he was also told the Conservatives would continue to champion issues that were important with its socially conservative base.

“I could not run for a party that I did not want to win the election,” Brison said in a 2006 interview.