OTTAWA — A Toronto-area MP tweeted herself into hot water Tuesday after she posted a message on Twitter commenting on the weight of a fellow MP.
Michelle Simson, Liberal MP for Scarborough Southwest, ended up apologizing after Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro complained to the House of Commons.
Click here to see Simson's Twitter page
Del Mastro said it was “demeaning” and “discriminatory” to refer to his battle with his weight.
“Perhaps my stature does not meet the criteria that some members in the House set but I have actually battled that problem since birth,” Del Mastro said.
It all started during a meeting of Parliament’s ethics committee.
“In committee this morning. M.P. Del Mastro should grow up (not out)” Simson tweeted to her 443 followers.
“Gosh, I hate to see a grown M.P. pout. Smile, Dean!” she added an hour later.
Simson is not the first MP whose tweets have gotten them into trouble. Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh apologized to Parliament last month after he tweeted about the proceedings of a closed-door defence committee meeting.
The whole thing has angered NDP MP Charlie Angus.
“This is not a clown show ... I believe the issue of members sitting on committee with their inane twitters about what is happening at committee demeans the work of all parliamentarians,” he said in the House.
elizabeth.thompson@sunmedia.ca
