The official Opposition has tabled a bill that, if passed, would prevent MLAs from crossing the floor.

The NDP raised concerns about floor-crossing last summer when Darius Elias, the MLA for Vuntut-Gwitchin, joined the governing Yukon Party.

The previous summer, Elias had left the Liberal party to sit as an independent.

But even after losing a member of his own party to the practice, the Liberal leader says he won't support the NDP bill.

"An MLA has to be able to decide how best to represent the people who elected them,” Sandy Silver said today.

If that involves crossing the floor to sit with another party, he's OK with that. Ultimately, it will be an issue for that MLA's constituents to vote on, come the next election, he argued.

"In the Yukon, crossing the floor doesn't seem to be a big deterrent to getting re-elected,” Silver added.

"You take a look at (Dennis) Fentie, you take a look at (Gary) McRobb, you take a look at (Eric) Fairclough or (John) Edzerza.

"These are examples of people who cross the floor – and the people know, the Yukon public is very, very astute, they pay attention here to their politics – and these people did get re-elected,” he said.

McRobb and Fairclough were expelled from the NDP, then under the leadership of the late Todd Hardy, when they spoke publicly about thinking of joining the Liberal party, which they later joined.

Edzerza, also deceased, was a member of the Yukon Party from 2002 to 2006, then then ran for the NDP in the 2006 election.

Fentie, initially elected in 1996 as an NDP MLA, became premier in 2002 as a member of the Yukon Party.

As for Elias, Silver said, the people of Old Crow will have to decide whether that was a good move in 2016.

"I have my own opinions about that, obviously, but once again, it's up to the voters to decide if that was something that was done for the betterment of the community or the betterment of the politician, and that judgment call will be made by the voters next time around,” he said.

The NDP bill would prevent MLAs from joining other parties during their mandate. It would require MLAs to rather sit as an independent or run in a byelection.

"This is about respecting the voters' choice,” Kate White, the NDP MLA for Takhini-Kopper King, said in a release Thursday.

"If an MLA is elected as a member of a specific party, they stand for specific values, and voters should have a say before this MLA can represent another party.

"This bill would ensure an MLA considers their constituents' best interests and not their own career when they make such a decision,” she said.

But Silver argues Yukoners vote for the person, and "their ability to make decisions” as well as the party.

White agrees that some people do vote for the person, but some vote for the party and some vote for both.

She argues in the release that "it's a matter of democracy and accountability to give voters the last work if an MLA wants to change party.”

"I've had the experience of running in a riding where the previous MLA had crossed the floor, and it was clear that constituents felt betrayed. They felt their vote was not respected,” said White.

Silver said he hasn't heard much concern about floor-crossing stemming from the Yukon public.

"We want to allow somebody to actually have their full term,” he said.

"Should we change the rules because one party says, ‘hey, this isn't fair,' or should we keep the rules as they are, let the democratic process go through ... it's full cycle and then let the people decide?”

The Star could not reach a member of the Yukon Party for comment before this afternoon's press deadline.

Leaving and entering caucuses has a long tradition in Yukon party politics, which began in 1978.

Among the examples, Maurice Byblow once represented Faro as an independent before joining Tony Penikett's New Democrats; the late Bob Fleming renounced independence to join the Conservatives in 1981; the late Bea Firth and Alan Nordling formed the short-lived Independent Alliance after leaving Willard Phelps' Conservatives; and Phelps himself once sat independently.

The late Grafton Njootli also tasted independence after leaving Chris Pearson's Tory caucus in the early 1980s.