Opposition Liberals have demanded an apology from Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay for apparently referring to his former romantic partner, Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, as a dog during a nasty Question Period in the House of Commons yesterday.
The incident occurred as Environment Minister Rona Ambrose was defending her new clean-air program from Liberal accusations that it does nothing concrete for the environment.
Liberal MP David McGuinty taunted Mr. MacKay, suggesting that if the Conservatives do not care about the health of people, they should care about the health of animals. Mr. McGuinty demanded to know: "Don't you care about your dog?"
Mr. MacKay, who dated Ms. Stronach when she was a Conservative, heckled back: "You already have her."
Mr. MacKay clearly gestured with his hand to Ms. Stronach's empty seat on the Liberal benches, Mr. McGuinty told reporters later.
The early draft version of Hansard, the official transcript of the House, does not record the McGuinty-MacKay exchange. However, the muffled off-mic words can be made out on an audiotape. Mr. McGuinty said at least 10 members of the Liberal caucus heard Mr. MacKay.
The Foreign Affairs Minister left the House almost immediately. He was travelling home to Nova Scotia late in the day and his office said he was not available for comment.
Ms. 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 incident during her drive back to Ottawa, when she received a number of phone calls from colleagues.
She later issued a statement through her office, saying: "I am really disappointed that Peter MacKay would say something like that."
Linda Trimble, chair of the political science department at the University of Alberta, called Mr. MacKay's comments "unduly personal and mean-spirited."
Prof. Trimble, who specializes in Canadian and gender studies, said the remarks demonstrate the continued need for an organization such as the now-defunct Association of Women Parliamentarians, a group dedicated to cleaning up language in Parliament as well as to issues such as daycare.
She said she was heartened by the reaction of MPs who criticized Mr. MacKay and brought the incident to the notice of the Speaker. Nonetheless, harassing remarks are too often tolerated in legislatures across the country, and those who utter controversial remarks often receive little more than a slap on the wrist from the Speaker, she said.
Ms. Stronach, 40, was an Ontario business executive when she entered federal politics as a Conservative with an unsuccessful run for that party's leadership two years ago. Her romantic relationship with Mr. MacKay, 41, a long-time Conservative from Nova Scotia, ended 17 months ago when she crossed the floor to sit as a Liberal and become a cabinet minister.
At the time of the breakup, Mr. MacKay found solace at his family's farm where he was photographed digging potatoes and petting his dog. "Dogs are loyal," he said.
National Post columnist Don Martin wrote in a new biography Belinda: The Political and Private Life of Belinda Stronach, that when he returned to Ottawa, the jilted Conservative treated his ex to "snide comments, nasty e-mails and furious glares across the Commons aisle."
One Liberal close to Ms. Stronach said she has tried several times to speak with Mr. MacKay since their falling out in May, 2005, to no avail, The Canadian Press reported.
"He'll walk into the elevator and she'll say, 'Hello Peter,' and he'll barely grunt back at her," he said.
Ms. Stronach's love life was back in the news again recently when she was identified as "the other woman" in a divorce action against former Toronto Maple Leafs player Tie Domi.
Yesterday's incident in the House brought Liberals and Conservatives to their feet on points of order. Quebec Liberal Denis Coderre said Mr. MacKay must apologize to Ms. Stronach for what he said was a slur on women.
Mr. McGuinty told reporters he thought Mr. MacKay was acting like a "schoolyard bully."
Mr. McGuinty said that if Ms. Stronach had been present to defend herself she would have raised the point of order herself. "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."
Another Liberal, Mark Holland, said he, too, heard the exchange. "It's completely unacceptable to call a woman a dog."