Liberal MP should accept fifth apology
Reaction over words in May ‘outsized’
Comes a time, as the great Neil Young once sang. Comes a time to draw the line, to note that not all remarks of a sexual nature are actually sexual in nature, that not all talk that is debatably inappropriate must be censored, that sometimes a bad line is just a bad line and that the # metoo movement does not require every woman to recall and publicize every slight, real or imagined, ever inflicted upon her by every man in the world.
Sherry Romanado is 43 years old, the mother of two grown soldier sons, a Liberal MP from Quebec, parliamentary secretary to the veterans affairs minister, and, according to her bio, a longtime “engaged citizen.”
Chiefly, it appears, what she must have been engaged in all that long while is burying her head up her own bum.
How else is it even possible that seven words uttered in her presence seven months ago have caused her “great stress” and “negatively affected” her work environment and, according to CBC sources, had her weeping last week as she recounted the horror to her Liberal caucus mates?
The horror happened May 2.
Romanado and her Conservative colleague, James Bezan ( MP from Manitoba), were both at Ottawa City Hall for an event called Stan and Back, a fundraiser for Canadian veterans and first responders.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was supposed to speak but ducked out amid the then- raging controversy over his amusing claim to have been the architect of Operation Medusa in Kandahar.
The place was probably crawling with MPs and other politicians; the obligation to attend such events, night after dreary night, is reason enough right there to never crave elected office.
Anyway, at some point, Bezan and Romanado posed for a picture with an unidentified third person. As they did so, Bezan said, “This isn’t my idea of a threesome.”
Perhaps Bezan imagined he was with a peer. After all, there was and is no dreaded “power imbalance” between him and Romanado: He’s almost a decade older and has been an MP longer, but she’s a member of the actual government with actual power. If anyone had an edge, it would have been her.
Perhaps Romanado’s face betrayed her sense of outrage, because by the next day, Bezan apparently real- ized he’d said something inappropriate and tried in vain to apologize. By May 10, Romanado had formally complained to Chief Human Resources Officer Pierre Parent. Bezan immediately offered to enter into mediation, an offer that was also refused.
The CHRO launched a review, Bezan co- operated, and as part of his written submission, apologized in writing.
On Aug. 16, the CHRO confirmed in writing his report “did not support a claim of sexual harassment” and recommended no disciplinary action.
Then, with the agreement of the two party whips in question, Bezan apologized in person to Romanado and completed the sensitivity training that’s on offer by the House of Commons.
Later still, after the CHRO report, Bezan agreed to mediation with Romanado and again apologized to her.
Monday, for good measure, Bezan apologized, by my count a fifth time, this time in public on a point of order in the House. He said in part that he had nothing “but the greatest respect for this member…”
Romanado later rose in response on a point of order, saying Bezan had made “inappropriate, humiliating and unwanted comments to me that were sexual in nature. These comments have caused me great stress and have negatively affected my work environment.”
Now perhaps t here is something else going on here that is contributing to Romanado’s outsized reaction.
Since she has refused to comment further — except to tell a reporter later Monday, her eyes brimming according to a Globe and Mail report, that “it’s been an incredibly difficult seven months” — how is anyone to know?
But nothing Bezan said warranted either his serial apologies or Romanado’s reporting of him or her carrying on as though he had groped or flashed her.
Here, I must stop to point out that the CBC online story about it began as follows: “A Liberal MP has called out a Conservative MP for making ‘ humiliating and unwanted’ sexual remarks she says caused her great stress in the workplace.”
‘ Calling out’, of course, is the modern phrase for publicly pointing out ostensibly bad behaviour that is otherwise not punishable or discipline- worthy. Its entire purpose is to shame and dirty the name of the alleged offender.
The story got big play in two of the country’s biggest newspapers, front page of the Toronto Star and Page 5 of the Globe.
James Bezan was entitled to assume that he was dealing with an adult who had a sense of proportion, if not a sense of humour. He was grossly mistaken. Comes a time to‘ call out’ those who reflexively describe ordinary human behaviour (which is to say, imperfect behaviour) as abusive and those who reflexively report it as gospel.