defected from Liberals to the Conservatives. 1978: James Armstrong Richardson leaves the Liberals by physically crossing the floor to sit as an independent MP. 1980s 1980: Thomas Rideout, Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador MHA, crosses the floor to join the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador over disputes with the federal government concerning control of offshore mineral resources. 1980: Dick Collver and Dennis Ham leave the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan to form the Unionest Party, which advocates for the western Provinces to join the United States. Neither sought re-election in 1982, resulting in the disappearance of the Unionest Party. 1982: Peter Ittinuar, MP, leaves New Democrats to join Liberals. 1985: Al Passarell, MLA for Atlin who defeated Frank Calder, crosses from NDP to Social Credit. 1985: Graham Lea, MLA for Prince Rupert, left the NDP after he was badly defeated in the NDP leadership race. He joined the recently formed but short-lived United Party of BC, so then joined the British Columbia Conservative Party becoming its last ever MLA. 1986: Gilles Roch, Manitoba Liberal Party MLA, defects to the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba after being denied permission to run as a Liberal candidate. 1986: David Ramsay, Ontario MPP, left Ontario New Democratic Party to join Ontario Liberal Party. 1986: Tony Lupusella, Ontario MPP, left Ontario New Democratic Party to join Ontario Liberal Party. 1990s 1990: Lucien Bouchard, MP, quit the Progressive Conservatives to sit as an independent; with other MPs, he later formed the Bloc Québécois. 1990: David Kilgour, MP, quit the Progressive Conservatives to sit as an independent, then later joined Liberals. In 2005, Kilgour left the Liberal Party to again sit as an independent. 1990: Jean Lapierre, Liberal MP for Shefford, Quebec, leaves Liberal caucus to sit as a member of the Bloc Québécois. Lapierre would eventually return as a Liberal and was elected to the House of Commons in 2004. 1992: Richard Holden, Quebec MNA for Westmount, left the Equality Party to sit as an independent, finally joining Parti Québécois. This move was seen as unusual as the Equality Party, a federalist English-rights party, was the ideological opposite of the PQ. 1993: Dennis Drainville quit the Ontario New Democratic Party caucus to sit as an independent to protest the Rae government's decision to allow casino gambling in the province. 1993: Gordon Wilson and Judi Tyabji, British Columbia MLAs, left British Columbia Liberal Party