As Peter Goldring returns to the Conservative fold, he is breaking from the opinion of many of his colleagues, saying that fellow Alberta MP Brent Rathgeber should not have to run in a byelection after resigning from the Tory caucus.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper invited Goldring back into the Conservative caucus this week after the Alberta MP was found not guilty of failing to provide a breath sample during a police check stop in 2011.

Meanwhile, Rathgeber left the party after fellow Conservative MPs pushed for changes to his private member’s bill about disclosure of public-sector salaries.

The prime minister’s spokesman, Andrew MacDougall, said Rathgeber should resign as an MP and run in a byelection. That call was repeated by some Conservative MPs, including Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose, who said Rathgeber “should do the right thing by him and by his constituents and run in a byelection as an independent.”

Goldring said there are incidents where an MP who leaves caucus should reaffirm his or her support in a byelection, but not in Rathgeber’s case.

“From time to time there are issues and there are scenarios where you will step aside from the caucus for the benefit of the caucus or on a matter of standing on your principles,” he told Power Play. “I don’t think that’s reason to be running in another election and putting the taxpayers through the probably hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost to do so. He’ll be up again in the next election in two years’ time, and that’s the time he can be tested by the electorate.”

Rathgeber said Thursday that he will not run in a byelection, and calls for him to do so show “a lack of respect for the democratic process.”

"The Conservative party doesn't own this seat just because I won it for them in the last election," Rathgeber told reporters. "I don't think they have any authority to make that kind of suggestion."

Despite Rathgeber’s stance, the Conservative Association of his Edmonton-St. Albert riding announced Friday that it has cut ties with the MP and will seek a new candidate.

Rathgeber was disappointed when his own caucus colleagues on the House committee reviewing the bill pushed for changes, including more than doubling the threshold for salary disclosure. In a blog post explaining his decision to resign, Rathgeber wrote that “the government’s lack of support for my transparency bill is tantamount to a lack of support for transparency and open government generally.”

Rathgeber also explained that in addition to the changes to his bill, his decision was also motivated by the ongoing Senate expense scandal and the government’s response.

Goldring said Friday that he had not read Rathgeber’s entire blog post, but he has “the highest respect and regard for Brent, and I consider him a good friend.”

However, he noted that because he had been out of caucus for more than a year, he could not speak for the colleagues’ position.

“I would trust that he has a legal background that he’s taking this as a stand principally,” Goldring said.

Goldring stepped down from caucus after being charged in December 2011 and sat as an independent as his case was being resolved.

An Alberta provincial court judge found that Goldring was not trying to avoid giving a breath sample, but was asking pertinent questions that anyone in his situation would ask.

"The questions that Mr. Goldring was asking do not suggest he was just buying time," Judge Larry Anderson said in a written decision.

"He was obviously in a dilemma. The questions were basically those that one might expect a detainee would ask a lawyer if that option were available."

Goldring told Power Play that his case was not about impaired driving, but about understanding his rights.

“This trial that I was involved in was not about impaired driving. I was not charged with impaired driving, no witnesses to this trial observed any symptoms of impairment. This trial was about a failure to comply promptly with police directions,” Goldring said.

He said others like him are probably confused about their rights and responsibilities when they are pulled over in a checkstop, and said he hopes to bring forward recommendations to clarify the rules.

“I am totally in favour of having serious penalties and the bar being held high for impaired driving and drunk driving,” Goldring said. “This is not what this issue is. This issue is about your civil liberties, my civil liberties, whether they are being upheld in the process of the issues.”