The NDP Must Stop Victimizing Women if They Hope to be Taken Seriously Again

In early December 2012, the Toronto Star reported:  Near-brawl erupts in Commons between Tory Peter Van Loan and NDP’s Nathan Cullen 

Apparently Van Loan was upset with the NDP's delaying tactics on getting the Conservative budget measures passed, and crossed the floor to the NDP caucus, pointing his finger and shouting obscenities.

In typical fashion, Thomas Mulcair began shouting obscenities back, and things could have gotten out of control, had not members of both parties stepped in to defuse the situation.  Then Speaker, Andrew Scheer, did nothing.

According to Van Loan, members of his party only left their seats, fearing for his safety; and according to Nathan Cullen, his only concern was for the women folk. 

Had a bench clearing brawl erupted, we can assume that only those wanting to engage would jump the boards and everyone else would scatter.  He should not have dragged gender into this.  What Van Loan and Mulcair did was wrong.  They created an unsafe and uncomfortable working environment for everyone.

Last week we witnessed a similar situation in what has been dubbed Elbowgate.

This time the obstructionism was more evident as several NDP members tried to delay the vote on Assisted Dying legislation, by preventing Conservative Whip Gord Brown from making his way to the Speaker.  Given that the clock was running out, the Prime Minister left his seat to move things along.

He was angry.  He cursed.  He was wrong.

During this brief encounter, NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brousseau, who had moved up behind him, got bumped.  She stepped back to her bench, laughing and then made a gesture like she had been injured.  

However, the issue here is not whether she was indeed hurt, or to what degree.  It's not even about whether or not she took a dive, as many believe she did.

It is about what we know did NOT happen.

She was NOT sexually assaulted.  She was NOT molested.  And she was NOT the victim of intentional violence.  She pushed against Prime Minister Trudeau.  He did not seek her out.

But that didn't stop the Opposition members from turning this into a three ring circus, making it all about violence against women and putting the lives of female MPs in grave danger.  Women must feel safe when they go to work, they insisted.

When did women become so fragile that we needed this kind of protection? When things like this occur in the workplace, they are disconcerting to everyone.  Believe it or not, we've heard the "f" word before and many of us like contact sports, including boxing.

Our female Members of Parliament come from varied backgrounds.  They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists, business people et al.  Many rose to the tops of their professions and no doubt took an elbow or two in the course of their careers.  Singling them out as frail individuals is misogynistic.  Feminism run amok.

As feminist blogger Rachel Edwards says:

"While feminists say that feminism is about equality, actions speak louder than words. These actions suggest an uncomfortable truth. Feminism is not the assumption that we are equal, but the assumption that women are weak... "

Had the NDP stuck to the narrative that Justin Trudeau should not have lost his temper and should not have left his seat to physically move Brown through the NDP wall, they would have come out on top.  But by making it about violence against women, they lost all credibility and the public turned on them.

Not just Liberal supporters, but all women who know what sexual assault and violence against them really is.  Also many men who are tired of always being painted as "perverts, bullies and misogynists"

Unfortunately, most of the anger was directed at Brousseau, while it should have gone to those who victimized her for political gain.

I know I also found myself upset with the MP, especially after viewing the video, but have since realized that she only played a small role in this farce. What I also noticed from the video, was how easy it would have been for Brown to go around, instead of continuing to try to go through.  Sure looked liked a set up.

I also discovered from following social media, that many of the people decrying the bullying of Brousseau, are the same ones who bullied Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, just a week ago; so clearly this was not about protecting women.

NDP MP and self proclaimed feminist Niki Ashton, epitomizes what is wrong with feminism today.  She led the charge against Sophie Trudeau when she asked for help in performing her duties, by suggesting that no one asked her to do anything.

Something women have heard for decades,  if not centuries.  "No one asked you to have those children".  "No one asked you to join a male dominated profession".  "You brought this on yourself".  

In November, Ashton had criticized the prime minister's wife for taking her son Hadrian along on an official visit, despite the fact that he was still breast feeding.

Feminists need to step back and ask themselves what they are hoping to accomplish and pseudo-feminists need to stop assuming that they know. Only then will we be taken seriously.

What Was This Really About?

I was quite taken aback by several well known Canadian journalists and pundits, who shared stories on Twitter from international news outlets about the incident.  They appeared giddy over the fact that this might tarnish Justin Trudeau's reputation on the international stage.  How is this a good thing?

Do they detest him that much that they fail to see that it would also be our country's image that would suffer?

I doubt it will have much of an impact, but it does shed a light on the true nature of all the uproar.

So instead of #PrayForSophie #Nannygate or #elbowgate let's just use one to cover everything.

#TrudeausJustTooDamnPopularGate

Forget Ruth Ellen Brosseau. How About the Phantom Jim Hillyer?

After all the fuss over Ruth Ellen Brousseau not campaigning and fluffing her resume, the Conservatives have at least one new MP that few saw, or even had proof existed.

But they voted for him simply because he was Conservative.

‘Man Who Wasn’t There’ surfaces in Ottawa as newly minted Conservative MP

And while Brousseau's resume only suggested that she had graduated from St. Lawrence, when in fact she was two credits short, Hillyer's is almost a complete work of fiction.

I've never seen an election where so many people, got so much, for doing so little.

Welcome to democracy Canadian style.

Ruth Ellen Knows She's Made it When Sun Goes on the Attack

The latest round in the attacks on Ruth Ellen Brosseau, concern the fudging of her resume. Apparently she did not graduate from St. Lawrence college as noted, but left before completing the program.

The NDP is apologizing to their most famous MP-elect for "inadvertently" embellishing her resumé. The NDP's online biography of Ruth Ellen Brosseau, who won the Quebec riding of Berthier-Maskinongé without ever having set foot in it, says she "has a diploma in Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications from St. Lawrence College in Kingston." But the college says while she attended classes there, she didn't complete the course.

This was a lead story on our local news last night.

Not the Manitoba floods, the new law in Uganda that allows gays to be executed or the Conservatives trying to influence Supreme Court decisions.

But the fact that a new NDP MP, may have had her resume bolstered a bit. More fodder for the right-wing noise machine.

Jack Layton has got to step in here before the media gives this poor girl a nervous breakdown. He might suggest that they look at a few Conservative resumes.

John Weston claimed to be part of the diplomatic corp. It was later discovered that he took the course but was never accepted. David Sweet removed any mention of his involvement with the anti-women Promise Keepers. And Stephen Harper calls himself a trained economist, despite the fact that he has never worked a single day in the field.

Unless you count his job in the mail room at Esso, when he discussed the price of postage stamps.

And he completely left out the years he spent running the National Citizens Coalition.

Was I thrilled that she got the job and we lost so many hard working and progressive MPs? Of course not. And if names on her nomination were forged, then they are fraudulent, and a different issue.

But it appears to me as though the media is hounding this poor young woman, looking for anything and everything to discredit her. They should be ashamed.

They interviewed one of her former teachers at St. Lawrence last night, and she said that Brosseau was hard working, inquisitive and caring. All positive characteristics.

Layton needs to assign a veteran, someone like Libby Davies, to take the girl under their wing and under their protection. Start fighting back, or they will continue this kind of assault on all the young NDPers, unprepared for the new toxic climate of Canadian politics.

To the Calgary Herald: Are You New Here?

The Calgary Herald has a piece on Jack Layton's new MPs, The Little Dippers: 'Junior Jacks' raise questions of NDP credibility

They go after the competence of the "newly elected baby-faced NDP", especially those like Ruth Ellen Brosseau who did little to win their seats.

"It would be almost comical, if it weren't for the fact MPs are paid $157,000 a year to serve ridings of 100,000 people and deal with issues like helping constituents to find employment or bring family members into Canada, or decide whether Canada should send soldiers to Afghanistan,"

I guess the Herald forgets 1993, when a new crop of Reform MPs hit the Hill.

People like Darrel Stinson who challenged political opponents to fistfights, called the women of the NDP fem-Nazis and wanted us to tap into NAFTA, and send all our prisoners to Mexico.

And what does Brad Trost or Maurice Vellacott do to earn their pay? Jason Kenney, the worst immigration minister in history. Does he earn more than $200,000 a year?

Or Cheryl Gallant who reads passport applications and Diane Finley who loses them?

Maybe it's not right that these people are moving into high paying jobs when they didn't properly interview, but this is a democracy, so when people like Stinson and Brosseau get elected, their constituents believe they are worth it.

So let's give them a chance.

The New Winning Campaign Strategy: Don't

Since the election, the media has focused their attention on the NDP 'paper candidates'. They did none of the work required to win an election, but won anyway.

"Undemocratic", "unfair" "unheard of".

And of course they have been following Ruth Ellen Brosseau around (or at least trying to) like she's Paris Hilton. She gave her first interview yesterday and we learn that she has yet to even visit the riding she represents.

Shocking but not life threatening.

I think Jack Layton will have more trouble with those MPs supporting separatism. Pundits are suggesting that he takes a page from Harper's handbook and put muzzles on them all. I hope he doesn't.

However, as we question whether or not some of his newbies deserve the job, we are forgetting something.

What about the Conservative campaign?

Across the country the stories were the same. They were no-shows. They attended no debates or all candidates meetings, and avoided the press. The only glimpse of many was their faces on signs or pamphlets.

Campaigns were directed from afar, and mostly by telephone. In Kingston Ontario, calls for our local candidate, came from as far away as Miramachi, New Brunswick.

I received one where I was asked if I would support Stephen Harper and a person I'd never heard of. When I asked the caller who that was, she sarcastically informed me that he was my local Conservative candidate. Once I got through to her that he did not represent my riding, I heard a rustle of papers and then she started running down a list of names.

After a bit more of this foolishness, I stopped her and said, "look, I'll save you the trouble. My local Conservative candidate is Alicia Gordon and I wouldn't vote for her or Stephen Harper, unless I was very drunk and had taken leave of my senses."

She slammed down the phone. I smiled.

Several NDP prospects never expected to win, so did none of the work. Many Conservatives did none of the work, but expected to win and did.

As everyone is weighing in on what happened to the Liberals this time around, a common critique, especially of high-profile incumbents, is that they didn't spend enough time at home, instead lending support to rookies. Really? Is that your final answer?

Maybe this will become the new norm for successful electioneering. Hide. No one can accuse you of not spending enough time in your community, if you don't show up at all.

Of course, with Stephen Harper and a majority government, there will be no need to even show up in Parliament.

And this my friends is what passes for democracy in Canada in 2011.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau May Lose Seat as Quick as She Won It. That's Vegas.

The NDP's most controversial new MP, Ruth Ellen Brosseau, may be in trouble with Elections Canada.

Apparently there were several names on her nomination papers that were allegedly forged.

There is some grumbling in semi-rural Quebec about the new local MP — and not just because she lives 300 kilometres away, didn't visit the riding to campaign, can't speak much French and spent part of the election vacationing in Las Vegas. The latest grumbling is about Ruth Ellen Brosseau's nomination papers. Her opponents suggest they may have been falsified and say the riding results should be nullified if that is the case.

A man in the Berthier-Maskinonge riding says he was stunned to see his name and address listed on the papers filed by the NDP campaign, when he doesn't recall giving his support. The name of Rene Young's wife, Lise Leblanc, is there too, except her name is misspelled and the signature was clearly forged, he added. "Lise Leblanc is written there — but Leblanc without a C," Young said Wednesday in his living room in Trois-Rivieres, at the eastern end of the riding.

This is one MP who should never, ever have been elected. How can she be trusted?

And to think that so many hard working men and women lost theirs.

A very sad time for Canada.