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Posted on 04/10/2003 2:11:39 PM PDT by saluki_in_ohio
Meet rude, crude Carolyn Parrish The Liberal MP for Mississauga has a history of behaviour unbecoming a parliamentarian.
Gillian Cosgrove The National Post
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
CREDIT: Tony Bock, Toronto Star
Pumped Up and Proud of It: MP Carolyn Parrish's 'bastard' comment won her a spot on Mike Bullard's late-night television talk show.
TORONTO - Who, exactly, is this appalling woman? How does she get away with being so nasty and offensive? This mean-spirited boor is, of course, Carolyn Parrish, the dishonourable member of Parliament for Mississauga Centre.
Ms. Parrish made headlines in February when, on the brink of war, she insulted Americans by saying "I hate those bastards," a remark that so angered the White House that the U.S. ambassador to Canada later mentioned it specifically in his heartfelt statements about the U.S.'s sense of betrayal by Canada.
The Americans aren't the only ones who're furious. Ms. Parrish has so thoroughly alienated many of her colleagues in Ottawa that she actually lost her job last month as chairwoman of Canada's NATO parliamentary group (wisely, she was replaced by pro-U.S. MP David Price).
Some were prepared to dismiss her anti-American insult as a tactless off-the-cuff remark outside the House of Commons recorded by ultra-sensitive boom microphones. But a careful examination of her past reveals a track record of remarks so vile and conduct so utterly lacking in human civility that decent-minded voters of Mississauga will surely toss her out of office come the next federal election.
It turns out Americans aren't the only objects of her hatred. Also on her blacklist are East Coast fishermen, French-speaking Quebecers, residents of downtown Toronto, members of her own Liberal party and even her boss, Jean Chr?tien. (He would do well to distance himself from Ms. Parrish. Failing to discipline her gives the impression he condones her distasteful comments. As for Paul Martin, he needs her support in the leadership race like he needs a hole in the head.)
More often than not, Ms. Parrish's pronouncements are couched in the language of the gutter, contrary to the time-honoured parliamentary tradition that dictates that even the most intransigent political enemies treat one another with courtesy and respect.
She accused John McCallum, the defence minister, of "farting around in Washington." She denounced Liberal MPs who criticize Mr. Chr?tien anonymously as "sneaking, snivelling sh--heads." She told the Mississauga News she was "tired of kissing a-- up here (in Ottawa)."
Ms. Parrish's cheap shots often have a bullying tone, and stop just short of character assassination.
Clashing with Betty Ford, chairwoman of the Peel Board of Education over the English-as-a-second-language program, Ms. Parrish threatened to "beat her up."
She called seven members of the Liberal caucus "toads, dull blunt clods" and "desperate idiots" for being Martin supporters. Her targets -- colleagues John Harvard, Diane Marleau, Stan Keyes, Nick Discepola, Joe Fontana, Rick Limoges and Paul Bonwick -- showed class and maturity by refusing to descend to her gutter-sniping tactics. She also threatened, as vice-chairwoman of a committee that administers the House, to discipline a journalist if he dared to publish what she had said.
Ms. Parrish's record of shameless behaviour goes further back. In March 1999, she accused fellow Mississauga MP Albina Guarnieri of being "evil" for introducing a private member's bill on consecutive sentencing for multiple murderers. "I think she's evil, but I have never called her evil," Ms. Parrish said. "I think she believes passionately that she is doing the right thing, and that is the only reason you don't just grab her and throttle her."
Get a grip, Ms. Parrish. In my experience, democratic legislators are all well-intentioned, sometimes misguided, but never evil. Your friend, Saddam Hussein, is evil.
Instances of Ms. Parrish's vulgarian behaviour have become the stuff of legend. Ted Woloshyn, the popular talk-show host on Toronto's CFRB, some months ago overheard a disgruntled Ms. Parrish in a restaurant engaging in a loud-mouthed, obscenity-laden rant against the prime minister for failing to put her in the cabinet. He deemed it newsworthy enough to broadcast the fact to his radio listeners.
Ms. Parrish is also a loose cannon with her outrageous slurs. In Halifax, she attacked East Coast fishermen who "fish three months of the year, make $60,000 and then sit on UI." This is simplistic and offensive, if not downright ignorant.
In 1995, just before the razor-edge referendum that threatened to break up Canada, Ms. Parrish went on Rogers Cable TV to declare in a know-it-all tone, "I hate to tell everybody and I particularly hope that Quebecers don't watch this show. It (the referendum) is being greeted with an enormous yawn in Mississauga. Quite frankly, I think it's almost like a form of torture. It's constant dripping, whining and fussing from Quebec. Everybody's going, 'Oh! I don't care.'"
Well, many of us cared enough to take buses to Montreal to join in a giant last-minute rally in support of a united Canada.
In 1996, Ms. Parrish suggested that the Liberals have to buy off the vote in downtown Toronto: "We're tired of sending money to downtown Toronto. The Liberals can't sit back and rely on their traditional ethnic support to carry the day any more."
This comment is way off- base; cash-strapped Toronto has been ignored by the federal government for years because Liberals here are considered shoo-ins.
Ms. Parrish consistently runs off at the mouth before her brain starts churning. In February 1994, she expressed her vehement opposition to a new runway at Pearson International Airport. "There will be no runways. If there are, they will be over my dead body." So how do you explain, just four months later, her keen support of the new runway, criticizing opponents because "they don't give a damn about the economics of the situation." Consistency is not her forte.
Finally, in an incident that raised eyebrows everywhere, Ms. Parrish was dismissively cruel to a Polish immigrant family who came to her for help to stay in Canada. She subjected Pawel and Beata Sklarzyk to yelling and profanity in front of their children, ages two, four, 11 and 15, saying, "I don't give a sh-- if you found a high-powered lawyer to get your story in the Globe and Mail."
The Sklarzyks came to Canada with their two older children in 1994. They renewed their visitor's visas three times and then stayed on illegally. Mr. Sklarzyk started a small window-washing and caulking business and the couple had two more children. When a refugee claim was denied, the family applied for an exemption on humanitarian grounds. But instead of sending the required $1,200 payment, they mistakenly sent only $1,150 -- a $50 error that upended their lives and left them in legal limbo. The family was deported in May 2001.
Ms. Parrish accused the Sklarzyks of being queue-jumpers, and even went so far as to suggest that Mrs. Sklarzyk had two more children in Canada to improve their chances of remaining. She also made the snide and unacceptable remark that they must be quite well-off because their two eldest children were going to a private religious school.
Nearly two years later, the Sklarzyks are still in Poland hoping to return to Canada. They had an interview with a Canadian immigration official in October in Warsaw. "They are very tired of waiting, but still hopeful they can return," said Izabela Embalo, a Polish immigration consultant.
It wasn't just that Ms. Parrish had no hesitation to wreck a family's life. It was that she did it with such cruelty, vulgarity and lack of compassion. I find this difficult to understand. After all, Carolyn Parrish is definitely unpolished, but she is Polish.
Gillian Cosgrove writes for the National Post, where this article first appeared.
Politics
Liberals can be that way, you know...
All the more reason that conservatives need to take over in Canada.
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THe question I have, what does it say about the Canadian voters and her parliamentary collegues, who elected her and advaced her to important committees.
Hitlers of this world is never a big problem --- unless the masses cheer them on.
Liberal inconsistency on the issue of immigration, on both sides of the border, is astonishing.
Anyway ms. Parrish is one of the very few women I'd like to see popped in the mouth.
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