Article content continued

Conservative Sen. David Wells, however, said, “that is false.”

“To sponsor government legislation (as he has) and to strategize with the prime minister on circumventing the role of the opposition in the Senate is outside the boundaries of our caucus. He knew this and he knew ahead of time the consequence of his actions,” Wells said. “He was given the choice and chose to leave caucus.”

Not all Conservatives feel this way, Greene insisted, saying others approached him Tuesday afternoon with sympathy after hearing about what happened.

But Smith justified the ousting in a statement late Tuesday afternoon.

“He has made a decision that goes against our values,” Smith said. “We believe in the critical role of opposition in parliament and Stephen Greene’s actions (show) that he supports Trudeau in his desire to effectively remove this critical role. His actions have consistently been to support the government in this ill-conceived reform. We cannot agree with that view.”

Greene conceded he could have played a partisan role by attending the dinner. He was the only Conservative invited, because he was the only one who had sponsored a bill. (An “innocuous” one, he said.) “Of course, I would report out of that meeting whatever happened and what he talked about,” he said.

He has made a decision that goes against our values

Greene said he has no immediate plans to join other independent senators, most of whom were appointed by Trudeau, in their Independent Senators Group caucus. For now, the Nova Scotia senator wants to be called an “independent reform senator” — something he said he and his staff “made up” on Tuesday.