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Where was MP Morrison? Helping people, that’s where
Letter to the Editor
Recently, I heard the NDP candidate (Wayne Stetski) ask the question, “where was Rob Morrison?” And I felt the question was completely out of touch, given what we’ve all been through.
Given the partisan nature of the question I felt it appropriate to share my story. The short answer, however, is that our Member of Parliament was helping people, droves of people.
Here’s my story:
We were in Mazatlan in March 2020 when COVID-19 hit. The stark contrast between the life we knew and the 18 months of pandemic we were about to go through had just hit us. Our return flights were scheduled for April, but were cancelled unexpectedly due to the pandemic.
We were stuck in Mexico and unsure how to get home.
At that time we were being told the virus would infect 70% of the population and the level of worry was high. Unsure how to proceed, we registered with the Government of Canada’s Registrations of Canadians Abroad program, which enabled us to receive information on airlines that were cancelling, but that did not help in securing new flights home.
We tried to book a second time and again our flights were canceled. A third time we booked and again canceled, leaving us desperate and without any options. I am so thankful to an army of friends who worked the phones and computers trying to secure our flights home, but no luck.
Out of options we went to the Canadian consulate only to be told that, “yes we were registered with them and no they could not help us get home.” With that news and last drop of hope gone, I could not sleep and was awake for two nights and three days on hold with the airlines, trying everything to find a flight to any destination in Canada. No luck and I was a wreck.
With no options remaining I said to my husband, Santo, that we should hunker down because there was nothing – no flights and no help from the Canadian government.
Having no options I called my Member of Parliament, Rob Morrison, to ask for help. Working with his office, and assistant, he got in touch with an executive of West Jet who in-turn reached out to me. She arranged for flights for myself, my husband and a friend from Alberta. Whew!
Thanks to this intervention by our Member of Parliament we were finally sitting on the tarmac on a repatriation flight out of Mexico. In fact, our flight made CTV news, reported as the last flight to return to Canada. Without the help from Rob Morrison we would not have made it home.
I would find out later that his office had been inundated with hundreds of constituents just like me, stranded abroad, all desperate for help to get home. And yet he treated us like we were his sole focus. That is what being an MP is about and that is where our MP has been – working hard and busy serving his Constituents.
Rosa & Santo Rocca,
Sparwood
