Tom Zytaruk

Surrey North MP Chuck Cadman is still the guy to watch during Thursday's federal budget vote despite former Tory leadership candidate Belinda Stronach's defection to the Liberal party.

Stronach, formerly a Tory MP, was appointed Human Resources Minister on Tuesday - a move that boosts the minority Liberal government's hope of surviving the confidence vote.

What that does is make the vote closer now, and Cadman's vote all the more important.

The independent MP said he was "sort of taken aback" by Stronach's defection. "What next?" he said in an interview from Ottawa. "I raised my eyebrows, but shocked? No, nothing surprises me any more."

At press time Tuesday, Cadman said he still hadn't decided how he'll vote Thursday. He said he's awaiting the results of a "scientific" poll BCTV is conducting in his riding but added he won't exclusively base his decision on that.

That said, Cadman wants his constituents' wishes to be front and centre in the vote.

"I want to give very real due consideration to what they say," he told the Now.

On Tuesday, the Vancouver Sun newspaper ran an editorial under the headline "It's up to Cadman to pull the plug on this chaotic Parliament," to which Cadman responded, "and go into another chaotic Parliament?"

He noted that if the government were defeated and an election were held, Canadians might find themselves in the "same soup" six months down the road.