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May 7,2006 - May 14,2006 |
Fair play among the candidates
Italian election debate showcases Italian-Canadians
By Luigi De Biase
Originally Published: 2006-04-02
Three questions, and sixty seconds to answer them: the candidates running in Italy's general election faced off last week for a round-table debate held at the offices of Corriere Canadese/Tandem.
Almost all of them attended. Gino Bucchino arrived early with a few assistants; shortly thereafter, the other two centre-left candidates for Canada - Rocco Di Trolio and Giovanni Rapanà - joined him. Greetings, handshakes, and the smell of freshly-made espresso filled the air. Vittorio Coco and Paolo Canciani - running for UDC - arrived escorted by Paolo Catuzzi, who co-ordinates their campaigns. Carlo Consiglio, who runs for a Senate seat for Lista Tremaglia, was smiling; Paolo Ariemma, representing Forza Italia, less so. Two more candidates (Guido Renzi for Lega Nord and Anna Colarusso for Lista Tremaglia) were linked from Montréal over the phone.
Loyal to the Party or to the Community?
Angelo Persichilli, political editor of Corriere Canadese, explained the rules. The first question was for Giovanni Rapanà: how would you behave if your parliamentary group were to take decisions running against the interests of North-American Italians?
The candidate of Unione did not hesitate. "The first objective is to protect our constituency, always trying to mediate. It should also be said," added Rapanà, "that we have fought for equality with the other MPs. It will be hard to stray from our communities, but it would be wrong to close up among ourselves."
Gino Bucchino, also running for Unione, corrected Rapanà. "Actually, we did not have to fight to be recognized as equal," he remarked. "Our status is guaranteed by the Constitution. I am opposed to creating a 'foreign caucus'. I'd rather have whomever gets elected to advocate our issues within his or her own party."
"We are not a Native reserve," agreed Di Trolio. "We cannot afford to remain isolated."
From the opposite side, Consiglio said the opposite. "I hope that MPs and senators representing Italians who live abroad will not disperse. Until now, the Parliament passed laws about us without solving our problems. We must stay together and present a united front, not just with MPs and senators from our riding, but with all those elected abroad."
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