Conservative leader apologizes to minister for MP’s sexist insult

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has personally apologized to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna for a Tory MP’s remark referring to her as “climate Barbie.”

Scheer called McKenna on Thursday to offer the apology two days after Saskatchewan MP Gerry Ritz posted the insult on Twitter.

The tweet, condemned as sexist by politicians of all stripes, appeared inspired by the far-right website The Rebel, which used the “climate Barbie” term in dozens of stories since McKenna became environment minister in 2015.

McKenna, who is in New York for Climate Week NYC, said she is fed up with having to respond to sexist insults that take away from the work she is doing.

A spokeswoman for McKenna says the minister accepted the apology and told Scheer she hopes to see “a shift in behaviour and attitudes in politics.”

After a social media backlash, Ritz deleted the tweet and apologized on Twitter, but has not yet spoken to McKenna.

The Ritz incident and an ongoing issue with Conservative Sen. Lynn Beyak’s comments about First Nations served as a distraction for the Conservatives in a week where the focus was supposed to be on proposed Liberal tax changes.

The Conservatives removed Beyak from her three Senate committee positions on Thursday, though she remains a member of the Conservative caucus.

She is in hot water for the second time this year over comments about Indigenous People.