MONTREAL - Tyrone Benskin, 54, was one of the many surprise winners for the NDP, perennial also-rans in the Montreal area before the party's 2011 breakthrough.
But he's also part of another surprise: Benskin, it turns out, owes a whopping unpaid provincial tax bill in the order of $58,000.
The Quebec government has started recouping its tax debt by garnishing Benskin's $160,000 MP salary.
The Conservatives have called for Benskin to step down and his leader Thomas Mulcair has stripped him of his role as official languages critic.
Benskin, an accomplished actor and former head of the Black Theatre Workshop, is offering contrition.
"The life of an artist isn't always easy. I have had lean periods," he said. "I have lived in precarious conditions, not knowing what the future had in store for me, sometimes without a contract for several weeks, or even months. I have had to juggle bills,” he said.
"My situation has prevented me from fulfilling all of my tax obligations and I am truly sorry."
When interviewed by CTV Montreal, several random voters in the Jeanne-Le Ber area – and area centred mainly around St. Henri - appeared unimpressed that their MP had such a bad track record.
“I think he wasn’t very well vetted by the party,” said one man. “I don’t see how you get involved in politics knowing that you have that kind of situation in your life because it’s going to come out.”
Another woman agreed. “You should have a pristine state when you start out in politics because whatever you did in the past will come back to haunt you.”
Last year Benskin introduced private member's Bill C-427, that would have allowed Canadians to pay taxes based on an average of several years annual incomes, in order to facilitate payments for artists and others whose earnings vary greatly from year to year.
The proposal was shot down by the ruling Conservatives.
Benskin’s name came up twice in parliament Friday.
Industry Minister Christian Paradis tossed the name back at an opponent with questions about the senate expenses scandal, suggesting that Mulcair had not punished Benskin sufficiently.
