There has been regular media coverage of various groups and organizations protesting in front of their constituency office, but “it was not available.”
Rasaiah Forest sent the following letter:
The debated issue of the permanent residence of Conservative MP Ross Romano should be considered “neither here nor there”.
It’s really about their availability to their constituents in Sault Ste. Marie.
Deputy Romano has acknowledged that he receives most of the summer break months and that virtually every month there is a “constituent week” where a deputy would be at home in his constituency office.
There has been regular media coverage of various groups and organizations protesting in front of his constituency office, but “it was not available.”
Were these protests simply badly scheduled when Romano “happened” to be in Toronto?
He spends a lot of time in the media talking about the demanding work behind the scenes and his personal successes. Meanwhile, the determined people of the community dealing with local issues continue to struggle with a tired voice echoing the same message to an apparent local MPP “present”.
It is unfortunate that his family is affected by poorly worded NPD messages, but it is part of the rhetoric of politics.
He has received some unfair criticism and has endured being a scapegoat for some issues in the north such as the insolvency of Laurentian University. It is a debatable issue in Sudbury, where Laurentian is not blameless on an issue that precedes Romano’s position as Minister of Colleges and Universities or his publicly perceived “powers” to resolve his inherited administrative problems.
However, local problems have gone unnoticed so many might consider a “symbolic” MPP missing in action divided between his family in Sudbury and his “real” home in Sault. Now that Romano has “returned” and to stay home, it is difficult for those affected by his unavailability to feel that a new term will compensate for his absenteeism at the Sault. In a constituency where several Sault candidates do not live, is this election term the second chance for Romano to redeem himself and show his commitment to the residents of his hometown?
Did MPP Romano, like most people, put his family first, but did he forget that his job is to listen, be physically present, and be the voice of trouble for those living in Sault? Your family is important, but so is your community, and so is your work.