NDP MP loses role due to long-term failure to pay taxes

MONTREAL – The NDP has suspended a member from its shadow cabinet because of his chronic, long-term failure to pay taxes.

Tyrone Benskin has been stripped of his role as official-languages critic until he pays the taxes he owes.

The announcement follows a report that Quebec’s revenue agency has contacted the House of Commons to seize part of his salary because of more than $58,000 he owes the province for unpaid taxes between 2007 and 2011.

The Montreal MP had been an actor in films, including the popular “300,” before being elected in 2011.

Benskin has apologized in a statement.

“In order for our society to be prosperous and fair, each citizen must do their part. I haven’t always done mine and I apologize,” he said.

“Fortunately, I am working on sorting out my situation with the Canada Revenue Agency. I intend to pay back every last cent of the money I owe, as soon as possible.”

He also offered an explanation about why he was so late.

“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.

“My situation has prevented me from fulfilling all of my tax obligations and I am truly sorry. I recognize that it is my responsibility and I will fulfill it directly and personally.”

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says he’s happy the MP apologized – but will now be sidelined until he settles his tax bill.

“He has to pay his taxes, like everyone. He will do it. He will do it completely. He apologized – which was the right thing to do,” Mulcair told reporters Friday in Trois-Rivieres, Que.

“Until then, I have removed him from our shadow cabinet. So he loses his responsibility in official languages until he pays his taxes.”

The NDP has come under some criticism for the vetting of candidates in the 2011 election, where in a swift and surprising breakthrough it elected 59 MPs in Quebec.

In the days following the election, the CVs of some of the rookie MPs came under intense scrutiny in Quebec media and from the Bloc Quebecois – which had been nearly wiped out by the so-called Orange Crush.

Benskin, for his part, had fought for tax changes after arriving in Parliament.

His private member’s bill, C-427, was rejected by the governing Tories. It would have averaged out certain people’s earnings over a period of years, so the tax hit would not suddenly spike in an occasionally prosperous one.

He described the bill last year as a relief for independent artists who cannot access Employment Insurance, and he said at the time that it would help many artists who struggle with a “feast or famine” cycle.