Nicola Di Iorio M.P. for Saint Leonard-Saint Michel in Montreal has finally resigned his seat in the House of Commons He has been missing from parliament since last September and had been talking about resigning since April before that. By the time, a new Member takes over after the October, 2019 election, the riding will have been without representation for more than a year.
To add insult to injury, Di Iorio says he should be the one choosing the new MP for the electoral district. Instead of having just one vote as the former MP, he thinks he should have the right to choose his successor. He does not think the riding party association should have the right to choose the candidate. He insults his riding people as incompetent to make the decision.
But what if he chooses someone like himself who paid more attention to moonlighting as a labour lawyer than in the job in Ottawa. MPs are now paid $170,000 a year and that is not for a part-time job.
Believe it or not, MPs are not just elected to vote for whatever their party tells them. There are committee meetings, fact-finding missions, responsibilities in the House and answering to constituents that take a great deal of an MP’s time.
And, most important, MPs get to talk about their concerns and their constituent’s concerns in regional and national caucus meetings and party leaders ignore this input at their peril. There are even MPs who take the time to meet with constituents in open meetings in the district to discuss government legislation and get local input.
MPs such as Di Iorio are rarely re-elected. Every voter deserves have a Member of Parliament who listens to his/her concerns. Voting for just the person leading the party is a losers’ game. It is the road that takes us to totalitarianism.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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