Troubles
By Eric Dowd
Toronto – Politicians can fall a long way and Ontarians have been given two reminders of it.
Michael Davison, 54, who was a New Democrat MPP in Hamilton from 1975-81, pleaded guilty to harassing a 16-year-old girl and a court gave him a conditional discharge and probation.
Davison’s father, Norm, earlier represented the same riding for 16 years and was what is called a good constituency man, a euphemism for being able to win his seat but not contributing much to debates.
The son was ultra aggressive and the patrician Progressive Conservative treasurer, Darcy McKeough, called him a guttersnipe, a term Winston Churchill applied to enemies but not heard much in Ontario politics.
Davison also was popular enough to defeat Sheila Copps, although she came back to beat him before she rose to the giddy heights of deputy prime minister.
Davison bounced back on to Hamilton city council, where he was a strong voice, and became a political columnist for that city’s major newspaper and TV commentator.
He had been a factory worker and wrote literately and interestingly enough to make a professional journalist envious – clearly a talented guy.
But he drank heavily, separated from his wife and wound up telling the teenage girl he would like to see her breasts and train her as a dominatrix, selling sadomasochism.
The girl was disgusted and depressed and suffered nightmares and Davison at one low point could not even get anyone to put up bail. The judge said he once was a pillar of the community, but stress and alcohol helped turn his life into a major tragedy.
Around the same time, John Brown, also a former NDP MPP, who represented a Toronto riding from 1967-71, died.
An MPP from each party paid tribute in the legislature, a tradition when former members die. MPPs often praise predecessors who left before them and whom they never knew. No current MPP was elected before 1977.
MPPs also say only good things about members who die, although one mentioned briefly Brown `found himself in troubles in his later life.’
Brown in fact was sentenced to the longest jail term given a former MPP in memory, three years for fraud.
He had been a bright hope for the NDP, an innovative social worker successful in treating emotionally disturbed youth in group homes he directed and later owned.
But he diverted nearly $1 million the province provided to maintain his treatment into lavish living, including flying his own plane, and particularly expanding homes outside Ontario that failed.
These two were NDP MPPs, but it should not be assumed New Democrats have had a monopoly on getting in trouble with the law over the years – far from it.
Will Ferguson, an NDP minister under Bob Rae, was jailed for punching his estranged wife after drinking and Ted Bounsall, an earlier NDP MPP, was found guilty of theft after he left a store with a $7 bottle of vitamins he said he forgot to pay for.
Bounsall also was among the most worthwhile backbenchers and his contributions included bringing in the first private member’s bill requiring equal pay for work of equal value (now called pay equity.)
But among Tories, ex-MPP Alan Eagleson, who became a hockey agent, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for defrauding clients. Terry Jones was jailed six months for defrauding investors in a get-rich-quick land scheme.
Albert Belanger was fined for fraud after a company with which he was involved went bankrupt and William Vankoughnet became the only MPP ever arrested for soliciting when he offered a policewoman, posing as a prostitute, money for sex.
Among Liberal MPPs, Claudette Boyer admitted obstructing justice after she encouraged a niece to tell police she was driving when the MPP’s husband reversed a van and injured a pedestrian, and lost her legislature seat over it.
None of this suggests politicians get in trouble with the law more than the rest of the population, but neither are they immune from its weaknesses.
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