EWW!
It sure smelled fishy — rotten fishy — to Conservative MP Laila Goodridge in the House of Commons last week on Friday.
That happens when you are caught with your pants down!
That was the Liberal MP for Brampton Centre, Shafqat Ali, who Goodridge noted “might be participating in a washroom” virtually since that was visible to MPs on an internal stream.
According to media reports, Assistant Deputy Speaker Alexandra Mendes told the House that “a page has confirmed that there was a member that appeared to be in the washroom.” She advised members to “be very prudent” on how they used their devices.
On Monday, Conservative House Leader John Brassard alleged that Ali’s misconduct was “contempt of the House.”
Indeed, the dignity of Parliament had gone the tubes – the whole affair stank to high heaven.
An hour or so later, Ali appeared in the House chamber via Zoom from his riding to beg for forgiveness.
He said: “I want to take this opportunity to apologize sincerely and unreservedly to all members of the parliament for the unfortunate event that transpired last Friday. I ask that the House and its members to forgive me for my lapse in judgment. I take this matter extremely seriously and I promise never to repeat this error again.”
History may not be kind to him. He might forever be remembered as the MP from the toilet.
When the call of nature comes, please do obey it to avoid a bad situation, BUT please don’t use your devices from the washroom. It could lead to all kinds of situations (which we won’t elaborate on!).
Hopefully, Ali’s career won’t go down the drain!
(VOICE commentary)