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Ruprecht defends Cuban
trips
Rob Ferguson, Queen's Park
Bureau. Toronto
Star, Apr. 19, 2006.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said it's up to
voters in Tony Ruprecht's Toronto riding
to decide if he's been away from the Legislature
too much.
Ruprecht (Davenport) has been accused by
New Democrat MPP Peter Kormos of missing
work to spend a lot of time in Cuba lately.
"He's won some seven successive elections,
so I think his constituents hold him in
fairly high regard," the premier told
reporters yesterday. "Ultimately, of
course, we are all accountable to our constituents."
Ruprecht acknowledged yesterday that he
has made four trips to Cuba since last fall,
with the tally at about seven weeks. The
last trip was 10 days long and he returned
Sunday night.
There's no official limit on MPPs' vacation
time.
Ruprecht defended the travel as personal
time to learn Spanish and Portuguese and
to attend to an old Spanish teacher who
was in a coma for 18 days before dying last
week. Her funeral was Sunday morning.
"That should speak for itself,"
said Ruprecht. Kormos (Niagara Centre) told
reporters yesterday that Ruprecht needs
to be called to account for his absences,
especially since he is one of few backbench
Liberals without any additional duties.
"We're talking about a member who
is abusing the trust placed in him by virtue
of using significant periods of paid work
time to take vacation. Nice work if you
can get it."
As an MPP, Ruprecht earns $86,860 a year.
Ruprecht described the Spanish teacher
as a "dear friend" and said his
other trips were to become fluent in the
two languages. Cuba is a Spanish island
and little Portuguese is spoken.
"I went there at my own expense, there
was no taxpayers' money involved,"
Ruprecht said, noting he has been in the
Legislature for 68 of 85 recorded votes
since last Oct. 13, more than many other
MPPs.
Ruprecht added that about 40 per cent of
his constituents are of Spanish or Portuguese
descent and he wants to be able to communicate
with them better.
"The languages are very similar, as
you know," he added, comparing his
trips to Cuba to those of other politicians
who learn French in Quebec.
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