Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Dog That Didn't Bark

It appears that parliamentary infighting is so fierce precisely because the stakes are so small:

First he was accused of making a sexist slur, now Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay is facing a far more serious allegation - lying to Parliament.

The latest charge from the Liberals came Wednesday after MacKay flatly denied referring to former girlfriend Belinda Stronach - a Liberal MP - as a dog in the House of Commons last week.

“I made no such gesture,” a defiant MacKay told the Commons. “I made no derogatory or discriminatory remark toward any member of this House.”

Last week, Speaker Peter Milliken said he couldn’t rule on the matter because the remark was not picked up by Hansard, the official record of the Commons. However, he agreed Wednesday to re-examine the issue after the Liberals said they had sworn affidavits from several MPs who insist they heard the remark.

The barely audible exchange in the Commons last week was caught on audio tape, with one MP asking “What about your dog?” and someone who sounded like MacKay responding: “You have her.”

Opposition MPs have said they saw MacKay gesture to Stronach’s empty seat as he made the comment.


Neither side of the fray is particularly appealling, with a slatternly flibbertigibbet seeking vindication of her honour against the bumptious cad who insulted it.

Shame on both of them for letting this drag on and wasting Parliament's precious time.

But shame especially on MacKay for demonstrating both his immaturity and political maladroitness. He could have defused with this with the typical non-apology apology that denies the remarks while expressing regret for the reaction. It would have been the sort of apology that the opposition would have settled for, and the story would have disappeared quickly.

By not doing so, and foolishly sticking to his story, he's now made himself a needless political liability.

In any event, he's now shown why he's unsuitable for leadership.

If not for his brief stint as the last PC leader, he wouldn't be where he is today. After the next election, let's hope he's not there either.

Source: National Post

4 comments:

Suzanne said...

I think he's handled this like crap. If he had said something to defuse the situation, Belinda could have ended up looking like a big crybaby. But no. Now she's a martyr.

Check out some NDP hypocrisy on this.

Remember when Belinda crossed the floor, she was called a whore? People said that was sexist. What does Judy Wasyclicia-Leis call the REAL Women presentation to the Finance Committee? "A REAL Women/Tory love-in".

MP Tony Martin is on video saying it's okay.

The whole thing is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Maybe MSM is showing PMSH that they can pick his team off one minister at a time with the mighty pen, the facts will not get in the way.

Maybe Conservative bloggers should ignore doggygate. A cabinet shuffle will take care of the situation.

Doggygate was smeared over Iggy's Israel 'war crimes' booboo, the Clean Air Act and Iggy's 'Quebec is a Nation'. Of course, these will all re-surface at a later date. (bi-elections)

Joanne (True Blue) said...

All I can say is that the Tories must be doing a good job if this is all the opposition can find to complain about!

Give them both time-out in the corner and call it a day!!

Neo Conservative said...

'I would therefore like to table this document for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition this summer. It is a document called The South Beach Diet.'

Paul Martin, to Stephen Harper, June, 2005, in reference to Mr. Harper's weight.