Senator Dennis Patterson the Conservative Senator for Nunavut dealt Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen her first blow Friday morning.
The Conservative Senator, who was appointed by then Stephen Harper to the upper chamber, changed his affliction in the upper chamber to the Canadian Senators Group Friday morning.
In a facebook post, Patterson wrote, "I wholeheartedly and unreservedly deplore and denounce what is happening in Ottawa with the so - called Freedom Convoy right now. Let me be clear- if you wrap yourself in or go about waving a Nazi or Confederate flag, you are declaring yourself a person who embraces hate, bigotry, and racism.
"If you are OK with dancing on or desecrating the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, you’re telling me that you have no respect for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice so that you could have the FREEDOM to drive across the country and protest your government," the northern senator stated.
Patterson was a supporter of former Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole. He did not endorse him during the 2020 leadership but rather endorsed O'Toole's main rival Peter McKay.
The Canadian Senators Group released a statement early friday morning welcoming the new member of their caucus.
Leader of the Canadian Senators Group Senator Scott Tannas said in a statement, "“We have come to appreciate the depth our friend and colleague Senator Patterson as we’ve watched him discharge his duties in the Senate over the last 12 years.
"He has always had a healthy respect for partisans on all sides, and I know he will continue to make a positive difference in the lives of people throughout Canada’s North as a member of the CSG," Tannas added
The Conservatives have not commented on todays defection.
As of publication there at 43 members of the Independent Senators Group, 15 members of the Conservative Caucus, 14 members of the Progressive Senate Group, 13 members of the Canadians Senators Group, 6 non affiliated, and 14 vacancies.