PING!
Posted on 10/20/2006 7:02:18 AM PDT by GMMAC
Stronach remark dogs MacKay
cnews.canoe.ca
October 20, 2006
By ALEXANDER PANETTA
OTTAWA (CP) - Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay referred to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach - his ex-girlfriend - as a dog Thursday in the House of Commons, the Liberals say.
MacKay denies saying any such thing.
The purported slur prompted Toronto-area Liberal Mark Holland to lodge a complaint with the Commons Speaker, and other Liberals expressed disgust at the alleged remark.
Holland says the foreign minister made the slur while exchanging jeers with the Liberals during a debate on the environment.
While the government was being peppered with questions about the new Clean Air Plan, Holland says a Liberal jokingly asked MacKay about the impact of pollution on humans and animals: "What about your dog?"
According to Holland, MacKay motioned toward Stronach's vacant seat and replied: "You already have her."
MacKay staged a well-publicized photo op with a dog on his family's Nova Scotia farm when he and Stronach broke up after her stunning defection to the Liberal party in 2005.
In Halifax on Thursday night for a speech to a Tory fund-raiser, MacKay denied saying anything derogatory about Stronach and suggested that his critics consult Hansard.
"I made no dog comment," MacKay told reporters, and blamed the fuss on Liberal partisan politics.
"It's what it's all about. It's a distraction away from their own inadequacies."
Earlier, Holland told reporters outside the Commons: "It's completely unacceptable to call a woman a dog and to point over to her is completely disgusting.
"And he owes Belinda an apology, he owes the House an apology, he owes women an apology."
MacKay spokesman Dan Dugas suggested the slur might never have happened, although he did not explicitly deny it.
"I've checked the official record of House proceedings and there is no such comment," he said.
However, parliamentary debate transcripts routinely miss comments made during heckling.
Stronach was meeting with child-poverty groups in Montreal and was not in the House at the time, Liberal officials said. She learned about the alleged incident during her drive back to Ottawa, when she received a number of phone calls from colleagues.
She issued a brief statement late Thursday: "I am really disappointed that Peter MacKay would say something like that."
One Liberal close to Stronach said she has tried several times to speak with MacKay since their falling out in May 2005, to no avail.
"He'll walk into the elevator and she'll say, 'Hello Peter,' and he'll barely grunt back at her," he said. It wouldn't be the first time that the foreign minister compared his ex-girlfriend, a former Liberal human resources minister, to a canine.
The day after Stronach's defection, he told reporters he planned to go home and walk his dog.
"Dogs are loyal," he added at the time.
Holland was adamant when pressed to explain what he saw and heard Thursday.
"It was very direct. You know the question was, 'Peter, what about your dog?' Pointing directly at Belinda's seat and saying 'You already have her,' " Holland said.
"He certainly owes her an apology and women an apology."
Liberal MP David McGuinty said the remark was loud and unmistakable.
"At least 10 members of our caucus heard it loud and clear and it would be very very difficult for the minister of foreign affairs to deny what he said," McGuinty said.
PING!
I did NOT call her a dog... I specifically used the word "Bitch"!
What will bill say about someone bad-mouthing his girl friend??
Regards, Ivan
LOL...whether he admits it or not, it was a good line.
Very true. If anyone should be offended, it should be dogs.
Reminds me of the time I was organizing a party at work. We had a competition where people had to balance a broom, sweeper up, while running from one point to another, pass the broom to a teammate, and so it went.
I had to call for people to bring brooms, and jokingly requested that nobody leave their wife stranded without transportation....
A few of the feminist types got really upset as if I had suggested that women were witches...imagine that!
Belinda did well to join the sleazy cabal of Liberal butt-sniffers and fart-chasers. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments", as the bard put it...
"Dog" is far too kind a word for that lot.
horse-racing ping
Belinda Stronach is Bill Clinton's CURRENT Girlfriend!!
Peter is SO over Belinda.
Stronach is not a dog. Besides, they usually sit in the cab while she is probably more familiar with astroturf in the back of Bubba's pickup truck.
http://www.ottawasun.com/
Should Peter MacKay apologize for his slur against Belinda Stronach?
Yes 34%
No 66%
Total Votes for this Question: 1333
I note with amusement the following, "...she has tried several times to speak with MacKay since their falling out in May 2005, to no avail." Yeah, I'm sure those tries began sometime after the late evening of January 23, 2006. ;)
I'll repeat a great comment that appeared on Free Dominion back when she dumped Peter:
"The only Conservative bone in Belinda's body was Peter McKay's."
McKay was right to describe her as a Canine-Canadian, she treated him brutally and deserves no sympathy.
She is the Canadian Parliament's version of Sarah Michelle Geller's character "Kathryn Merteuil" in the film "Cruel Intentions".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.