Carolyn Parrish: From national embarrassment to suburban vandal

Mississauga city councilor, Carolyn Parrish, is at it again after a lengthy hiatus. Parrish has been in the news a lot as the nemesis of longtime mayor 88-year-old Hazel McCallion but her recent actions brings back memories of Parrish’s days as a federal Liberal backbencher who craved the attention that is usually only paid to important people. In 2003, Parrish rose to fame when a microphone picked her up saying, “Damn Americans – I hate those bastards”.

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It was a little surprising that Parrish wasn’t promoted to the rank of deputy prime minister in the anti-American Liberal government of the day. The MP continued to show that she could Bush-bash with the best of them when she referred to the countries that were engaged in the Iraq war as the “coalition of the idiots”. The next year she reached the pinnacle of her childish anti-American antics when she appeared on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and stomped on a George W. Bush doll. This was done to the great delight of those people to whom attending a taping of a CBC television show constitutes a night out. A couple of years later, Parrish was thrown out of the Liberal caucus and no, it was not for making childish comments about George Bush. Nor was it for calling not just the leader but all the citizens of Canada’s largest trading partner, “bastards”. Prior to the 2006 election Parrish said that she would not lose any sleep if Paul Martin lost the next election. That time she apparently really crossed the line. Martin did indeed lose the election and presumably Carolyn slept like the baby that she is. Carolyn Parrish is one reason why the past tense is always used when the federal Liberals are referred to as the Natural Governing Party. Parrish moved on to municipal politics and won a seat on Mississauga’s city council. She has become the harshest critic of the mayor, Hazel McCallion, and was instrumental in calling for an inquiry into land deals involving the mayor’s son. Parrish wants badly to be mayor but knows she can never beat Hazel who has led the city for over 40 years. She’s waiting for McCallion to retire (Hazel has announced she will run again in 2011) or die. So far poor Carolyn hasn’t had any luck. A few days ago, Parrish, her husband and another couple went to dinner at a Mississauga restaurant. On the way out, she noticed a poster advertising a Mississauga event with a picture of Mayor McCallion on it. Parrish ripped the picture off the wall, tore it into pieces, threw the pieces on the floor and stomped on them. Then she had a good laugh as she walked out, leaving the restaurant lackeys to pick up the pieces so to speak. As lowlifes like Parrish are wont to do, she’s now playing the victim. She is outraged at the fact that the owner of the restaurant talked to the media. The councillor thought that the incident should have remained “private”. Mississauga Councilor Pat Saito, quoted in the Toronto Sun, understands what Parrish did for what it was; it was a criminal act of vandalism. But Carolyn has learned well during her tenure in the Liberal Party of Canada; there is one law for them and one for everyone else. Although Parrish has apologized to the restaurant, she continues to play the victim in the incident. It’s possible that the next time Carolyn Parrish hears about someone being arrested for vandalism (more likely a black kid rather than a white woman of privilege) she’ll think about what she did but it’s highly improbable that will happen. To anyone who can think about the situation objectively, Carolyn Parrish is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill vandal. Mississauga will be in for a rough ride if Parrish ever becomes mayor.