The greatest disappointment in the resignation of Bev Oda is that it wasn't made public while the House was in session so that the massive Commons' door could hit her on the butt on the way out.

But good riddance nonetheless.

Do not think for a second, however, that the gaffe-prone minister who led the Canadian International Development Agency bowed out on her own without first typing out an "or else" clause for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to ponder until the Commons recessed for the summer.

What this consisted of, we suspect, was the "threat" of resignation if she did not retain her cabinet post in a summer shuffle.

If Oda did not get what she wanted, she was going to pick up her gold-plated ball and go home.

Ergo, she arrived in a limo and left in a huff.

While the Conservatives have a comfortable majority, it was already getting less comfortable with the uncertainty in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke Centre now that a judge has declared Conservative MP Ted Opitz's 26-vote election win null and void in a challenge by former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments next week.

And, while Tory MP Lee Richardson's recent resignation in Calgary Centre should pose no byelection problems for the Conservatives, the smell Oda has left in Durham will be tough to overcome.

Still, she had to go.

There will be no tag days needed for Oda, of course, not with the overly-subsidized MP pensions that are paid for by under-pensioned taxpayers.

Once Oda steps down officially at the end of the month, the 67-year-old's annual MP's pension after eight years of living large on the taxpayer dime will start at $52,183 a year, cumulatively reaching $701,464 by the time she reaches 80.

As the Canadian Taxpayers Federation calculated, Oda's lifetime pension should cover approximately 43,841 glasses of room-service orange juice at the posh Savoy in London.

This is in reference, of course, to Oda's last scandal, rejecting one five-star hotel in London during a conference on the poor in favour of a posher five-star at double the cost.

As for Oda living to 80 and collecting all $701,464, we suspect this is a long shot.

After all, she's a pack-and-a-half a day smoker.

The odds favour the taxpayers.