TORONTO – At a minimum, MP Vuong now knows he is the centre of attention – for better or for worse. He is definitely the focus of attention for the “holier than thou” evangelists of the new morality. It is an austere, severe collection of critics only a mother could love. 

I don’t know the “real” Kevin Vuong. Apparently, neither did the Liberal Party that recruited him nor the Canadian reserves in which he served, nor did one of his former partners with whom he is embroiled in a civil suit. Apparently, the 18,991 Canadians who voted for him did not know him either. 

The virtue signallers in politics and the Media want him to resign – he literally just got elected! – because he had not revealed (so they say) to his Party officials that, in the past someone had caused a sexual assault charge to be levelled against him and that he is a subject in a Court action.

Let’s make this clear: the claim is not that he may be guilty, but that he did not tell either the Military (paragon of virtue on sexual matters) or his Party about his sexual or business experiences. Vuong’s “sin”, so to speak, is that he “kept the information to himself”.

It is unlikely. Every Candidate must present a Police report indicating “clearance” – no outstanding issues – to his/her Party officials before the Party will authorize the candidacy. In any event, for reasons not yet corroborated by independent sources, the charges whatever their merits, were withdrawn. In Law, that means he was not guilty of anything, or at least of what was initially alleged.

Yet several politicos (active and not) are almost comical with their feigned outrage and impatience at Vuong’s intransigent insistence about staying on. The public is left to wonder if they are of “easy virtue”, to use an arcane expression. One of them wants him to “examine his conscience”; another, that he “do the honorable thing [resign]” because local folks will be upset with him. Were those who did vote for him from Mars?

Oh no, wail the defenders of the democratic process, if the public had known [what?] beforehand they would have voted for someone else. They did. According to 338Canada, which aggregates major polls, Vuong was at about 48% and trending upwards when the Liberals announced that he was no longer welcome. After a brutal weekend, he finished with 42%. In contrast, his NDP adversary was at roughly 25% and ended with 32%. The others did not shift more than a fraction of a point.

Speaking of the NDP, who have held the riding in the past, it does not appear that they vetted their candidate with the same scrutiny they want for Vuong. There is no evidence to support his affidavit that he met the requirements of a qualified Catholic elector in 2018, when he offered himself as a candidate for the TCDSB. Moreover, he is subject to a Statement of Claim in the Superior Court of Ontario. Full disclosure: the plaintiffs are the Corriere Canadese and its publisher. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Once Mr. Vuong is sworn in by Elections Canada, he will have every right to take his seat in the House of Commons and exercise all the powers and authorities vested in any Member of Parliament, of any Party. That includes holding up the business of the House when it requires unanimity of votes to proceed.

In a minority Parliament he may be more useful to his constituents than his detractors are willing to admit.

In the pics, Kevin Vuong and his tweet (from his Twitter profile)