Amid the ongoing Senate expenses scandal, another senator made headlines on Tuesday in an unexpected way.
Sen. Romeo Dallaire crashed his BMW into a light post and a knocked over a stop sign in front of Parliament’s East Block on Wellington Street at around 10 a.m.
Two airbags deployed and the senator was uninjured. Dallaire appeared in Senate later in the day, where he acknowledged the crash.
He says he has been losing sleep due to the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and the recent suicides of three Canadian soldiers. Alcohol is said not to be a cause.
“I simply ran out of steam and fell asleep at the wheel,” said Dallaire in the Senate.
He said he hopes the incident does not bring more dishonour to the Senate, which has recently suspended three senators involved in an ongoing expense scandal.
Dallaire famously battled depression and post-traumatic stress disorder following his time as United Nations Force Commander in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide
He was medically released from the military in 2000. Paul Martin appointed him to the Senate in 2005.