As a boy growing up, Dean Del Mastro was teased for being the “fat Italian kid.” Blessed with supportive parents, he survived the taunts. Not today, however.
This afternoon, Mr. Del Mastro, 39, and the Conservative MP for Peterborough, stood up in the House of Commons demanding that Scarborough Liberal MP Michelle Simson apologize for suggesting in a Tweet that he is fat.
“M.P. Del Mastro should grow up (not out),” she wrote during a meeting of the all-party ethics committee earlier today. She added later: “Gosh, I hate to see a grown M.P. pout. Smile, Dean!”
Mr. Del Mastro, who has never met Ms. Simson before and says he wouldn’t know who she was if she hadn’t been at the committee, believes her insult was provoked by an exchange he had with the Liberal chair of the committee, Paul Szabo.
During questioning, Mr Del Mastro said he referred to the Liberal sponsorship scandal as a “crime.” Mr. Szabo asked him to retract the word “crime.” Mr. Del Mastro refused, saying that he believes it was a “crime.”
“I guess she took some offence,” Mr. Del Mastro told The Globe in an interview later.
His staff uses Google to alert them to any mention of their boss. They discovered the offensive Tweet. At first, he said he was going to let it go.
“When I was a kid I used to put up with this stuff,” he said. “I was a fat Italian kid from Peterborough but I was very fortunate to have extremely supportive parents.”
He said his parents told him he could achieve anything. And so it was his staff and other MPs who encouraged him to seek the apology, which was given after Question Period.
Mr. Del Mastro said he accepts Ms. Simson’s apology but added that, “It’s pretty low in any event. To me it speaks to arrogance and elitism.”
Meanwhile, the Conservative MP has lost 80 pounds over the past two years by cutting back on food and watching what he eats. He says he has tried crash diets in the past but has been unsuccessful in keeping the weight off. His new strategy – slow and steady – is working.
(Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
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Update Here’s how it all unfolded in the chamber after Question Period:
Mr. Del Mastro: Mr. Speaker, I am in fact saddened to rise on this point of order because I had hoped members in the House would not sink to this level. However, this morning the member for Scarborough Southwest made an entry on Twitter that I find particularly demeaning, discriminatory and unbecoming of a member of Parliament. This morning in the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, I had to put up with the abhorrent behaviour of a partisan chair who pays no attention to the rules governing parliamentary committees whatsoever. However, during that meeting I provided the respect that each member is in fact due. The member for Scarborough Southwest wrote on her Twitter, and I apologize as I will have to use my name, “In committee this morning, MP Del Mastro should grow up not out.”
