New Democrat Denise Savoie has resigned as the Member of Parliament for Victoria. Announcing the resignation in Victoria today, the 68-year old Savoie cited health reasons. Her resignation will take effect August 31.

“This spring, my doctor gave me a health warning,” Savoie said in a letter to fellow New Democrats. “After I considered these facts over the summer, I realized that I cannot continue to represent my constituents to the standards that they have come to expect nor indeed to my own standards. Hence my announcement today.”

Savoie was first elected to the House of Commons in 2006.  During the May 2011 federal election, she was elected with over 50 per cent of the vote. She served as the Deputy Speaker.

In her letter, Savoie paid tribute to the late NDP leader Jack Layton, NDP’s Victoria riding association and current boss, Tom Mulcair, who travelled to Victoria to join her for the announcement.

“A year ago yesterday, my dear friend and leader Jack Layton passed away,” she said. “As it did for Tom, for our caucus and for all Canadians, his loss affected me deeply. It made me reflect on the fragility of life and the need to make the most of each day we have left.”

The MP’s resignation brings the number of vacant seats in the House of Commons to three.

Conservative MP Lee Richardson resigned his Calgary Centre seat on May 30 to serve as Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s principal secretary. Another Conservative, Bev Oda, resigned from both Harper‘s cabinet and her Ontario riding of Durham on July 31 after a scandalous public life defined by profligacy, scandal, inefficiency and controversy.

Disgraced ex-Durham MP, Bev Oda, begins her private life today, after a scandalous public life defined by profligacy, scandal, inefficiency and controversy. Canadians offer their final word on the former minister of International Co-operation and MP for Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party of Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minister of international co-operation, Bev Oda, officially retires today. A sigh of relief! What a financial burden to the Canadian taxpayer the Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Durham has been.

Oda earned the dubious honor of poster girl for misspending by Tory ministers:  $1,000 a day limo rides; $665 per night stint at London’s Savoy hotel in 2011, and $16 orange juice.  And, she “claimed more than $400,000 in travel and hospitality expenses during her time as Canada’s international co-operation minister”?

GOOD RIDDANCE!

The minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has resigned from both Stephen Harper‘s cabinet and her elected position as Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Durham. The controversy-plagued Oda announced her resignation this morning without giving a clear explanation.

No doubt, the resignation is a bitter pre-emptive strike against Harper’s imminent cabinet reshuffle. She was a strong candidate for the boot.  Since 2007, Oda has hopped from one public firestorm to another, especially over her spending habits. And for her politicization of CIDA funding decisions.

While attending an international donors’ conference in London last year, Oda switched from her original $287-a-night reservation at the posh Grange St. Paul’s Hotel, to a $665-a-night one at the more luxurious Savoy.  According to the Toronto Star: “She also expensed a $16 glass of orange juice and nearly $3,000 to be driven around the city in a luxury car.”

This is not the result the majority of Canadians wanted. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives came to power promising to clean up Ottawa, but his government fell after a parliamentary committee slapped the government with the first contempt ruling in Canada’s history.