Absent MP says he is on assignment for the PM

Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio broke his silence about his absence from Parliament Hill on Friday, saying he is performing unspecified tasks assigned by the prime minister himself.

The Montreal-area MP published a short message on Facebook seeking to explain why he has not been in Ottawa since Parliament resumed sitting Sept. 17.

And he invoked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the message.

“The prime minister has assigned me responsibilities which, for the moment, require, justify and authorize my absence from the House,” Di Iorio wrote in French, without elaborating.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office declined to specify the nature of the task Di Iorio was assigned. “We anticipate he’ll announce his decision about his future in the coming days,” Chantal Gagnon said in an email.

The MP for Saint-LeonardSaint-Michel maintains he has never stopped serving his constituents, even though he has also continued to practise law. Last summer he joined the Montreal law firm BCF.

In an interview Friday, Di Iorio said he doesn’t see any issue with holding down a second job - in fact he sees it as a plus.

Elected officials are better off staying “anchored” in reality by holding down another job, he said. He acknowledged such situations can lead to conflicts of interest that undermine confidence in democratic institutions, but he said it is not true in his case.