Political maverick Garth Turner said Monday he has resigned his candidacy after being recruited by the Liberals to run in the Ontario riding of Dufferin-Caledon in the next federal election.

Former MP Garth Turner says he quit the race for the Liberal nomination in Dufferin-Caledon because 'my views are unwelcome.' {Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)Turner, a former Conservative MP turned Independent turned Liberal, issued a news release that took shots at both Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Turner said the Liberal party recruited him and approved his candidacy in July. He said he informed Ignatieff of his resignation Monday.

"In Dufferin-Caledon, I have been the only nominee for MP candidate since August," he said. "I'm interpreting the leader's failure to allow a nomination meeting as a signal my views are unwelcome."

Turner also took aim at the federal deficit and "profligate spending," while criticizing a lack of debate about options and "honest conversations with voters and citizens" about the consequences.

Both the Liberal and Conservative leaders have said they don't plan to raise taxes.

"It's hard to see what the coming election will be about if we're not prepared to discuss the options in the wake of the Harper fiscal disaster," he said.

Turner was first elected in 1988 as a Progressive Conservative MP for the riding of Halton, west of Toronto. He sought the party leadership in 1993, placing a distant fourth out of five candidates.

After serving as minister of national revenue in Kim Campbell's short-lived government, he was defeated in the 1993 general election.

Turner was elected in Halton again in 2006 as a Conservative, but was booted out of the party caucus in October that year after being repeatedly warned to stop writing on a weblog. He sat for several months as an Independent before joining the Liberal caucus in February 2007.

Turner was defeated in the last election by Conservative Lisa Raitt, who is currently natural resources minister.

He has since returned to his career as a business journalist and author of investment advice books.

With files from The Canadian Press