Rathika Sitsabaiesan, at 31 the youngest MP in the Toronto area and the first MP of Tamil heritage, was elected last year to represent Scarborough-Rouge River. She won the seat previously held by Liberal Derek Lee quite handily (by 5,000 votes).Now I'm guessing there's nothing a newly minted Member of Parliament wants more, than to really shine on their first taxpayer-subsidised international junket. Rathika was likely pumped to stand up and do Canada proud.
Which makes me wonder how she could screw up a fact most Canadian primary school kids could recite in their sleep.
Of Tamils living in Canada, she said: “When united in Canada, we’re about 300,000 strong. But Canadians united in Canada, we’re a huge force to be reckoned with — almost nine million, if I remember the number exactly.Except, of course, that it isn't.
“That’s nine million Canadians standing together to fight for human rights.”
In fact, that's not even in the ballpark.
Someone in the audience interjected and said Canada’s population was 33 million. Sitsabaiesan seemed a bit flustered, but recovered quickly: “You know what I was thinking of … I was thinking of the people that came out and voted in the last election.”In fairness, Ms, Sitsabaiesan belongs to a party whose most infamous shot-caller apparently couldn't tell a government-licensed medical clinic from a seedy Chinatown bordello.
Sorry, ma’am, you’re 4.8 million out. According to Elections Canada, 14,823,408 Canadians voted in the federal election that gave Sitsabaiesan her seat in Parliament.
Still... it's something to ponder the next time some dumbstick tries to tell you..."we don't pay these outrageous salaries & pensions, we won't get the best qualified candidates."
Hey... at least she actually lives in her riding... which is more than you can say about some of her NDP colleagues.
