Far more often than not politicians have to stoke the fires of the electorate in order to get elected. They must go to those tiresome meetings, discuss policy, shake hands, kiss babies and in general speak the language - literally - of voters. But sometimes, well, sometimes they just have to go to Vegas.
That at least appears to have been the winning formula for an NDP MP-elect. On May 6, 2011 Ruth Ellen Brosseau was declared the winner of the Quebec riding of Berthier-Maskinonge by Elections Canada. She won despite her mid-campaign vacation to Las Vegas, not speaking French, not living in or even near the riding, not having an office there, not running a campaign and not even visiting Berthier-Maskinonge.
Win Protested by Liberal and Conservative Parties
Brosseau, who will now collect an annual MP's salary of $157,000, and an expense account, had her win protested by the Liberals and Conservatives, who finished 3rd and 4th respectively (she beat the Bloc-Quebecois by 5,800 votes) due to accusations of signature irregularities in her nomination papers. But Elections Canada said Friday her win is legit and if others want to take the matter further they must take it up with the courts.
So the young M.P., she's but 27, who lives in Gatineau - the two ridings aren't close - must now represent a riding she's almost completely unfamiliar with. She is not without skills to help her, however, on the party's website it says that "one of her passions is rescuing and rehabilitating injured animals." Her NDP bio states she has a marketing degree from St. Lawrence College in Kingston but the college says she does not.
NDP Leader Jack Layton Defended Brosseau Trip
She created a stir when she went ahead with a vacation to Vegas that she'd planned before the snap election, thereby missing a significant portion of the campaign. When the media reported on her trip NDP leader Jack Layton defended Brosseau, citing the Conservatives and no set-election legislation as the blame for it.
Brosseau was getting by on a salary as an Assistant Manager at Oliver's Pub on the campus of Ottawa's Carleton University and perhaps did not want to lose money for canceling the trip. How she came to run in the election is not fully known; the party says she is a member.
Brosseau Being Shielded by NDP
The NDP is not allowing media access to Brosseau just yet while they help her to work on her French and, perhaps, help her with other things such as identifying exactly where her riding is. They were caught unaware as neither the candidate nor the party thought they would win but the riding was caught up in the wave of NDP orange that swept Quebec. The party won 59 seats in a province it had only won in twice before.
Some do not find it at all amusing.
"It would be like me running somewhere in Ontario that only speaks English," Denis Simard, a spokesman for the riding's Liberal candidate Francine Gaudet, told media. "I don't think people would like that. Here - even if people voted for this person - it was for an orange wave. Now we know that the colour of a ghost is orange."
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