PMO Wants Apology From New Democrats For Criticism Of Senator Who Suggested Prisoners Hang Themselves
"Pat Martin wants to correct his breech of parliamentary protocol: “I should have called him an Honourable Asshole,” the NDP MP says now. [...] And now he’s in hot water with the Harper PMO, who issued a memo Thursday – under the headline “Don’t tweet this, Pat” – calling on him and his entire caucus to “apologize for this shameful personal attack aimed at Senator Boisvenu.”
The controversy began Wednesday after the Senator said murderers should be given the “right to a rope in his cell to make a decision about his or her life.”
A spokesman on law and order for the Harper government, the Senator was speaking in defence of the Conservative’s omnibus crime bill. He is a victims rights advocate. In 2002, his daughter was abducted, raped and killed by a repeat offender.
Senator Boisvenu did dial back his remarks and was defended vigorously in the House Wednesday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed him to the Senate in 2009.
But the reaction from the opposition was swift and harsh; it seems Mr. Martin’s remark was the most egregious."
Globe & Mail
Good for Pat Martin. I thought he was too polite. More of this, please.
Posted by Jim Parrett | 2:04 pm, February 03, 2012