Manning up
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says an off-the-cuff remark he made during a town hall meeting about making the word mankind more inclusive was an attempt at humour that backfired — a joke that he now appears to regret.
In an exchange between Trudeau and a woman asking about religious charities at the Edmonton event, Trudeau interjected when she used the word mankind, telling her he preferred to say peoplekind.
The remark caught the attention of media outlets outside Canada, including one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s favourite TV shows, Fox and Friends, which ridiculed Trudeau for the comment during a broadcast Tuesday.
Prominent British TV broadcaster Piers Morgan and Australian columnist Rita Panahi were also critical of Trudeau for being too politically correct. The Opposition Conservatives also got in a few jabs, with deputy Tory leader Lisa Raitt urging the prime minister to “person up” during a testy exchange in the House of Commons.
On his way into a Liberal caucus meeting today, Trudeau admitted his track record at telling jokes was a bad one, and his peoplekind comment only made it worse.
“I made a dumb joke a few days ago that seems to have gone a little viral in the room on the ‘peoplekind’ comment,”Trudeau said without being prompted by reporters.
“It played well in the room and in context. Out of context, it doesn’t play so well,” he added. sure that we have a harassment-free workplace within the Canadian Armed Forces,” Sajjan said at one point while noting that dozens of service members had been kicked out for sexual misconduct.
“We are going to stomp this matter out.”
But Sajjan did not respond when NDP House leader Ruth Ellen Brosseau demanded the government end the “irresponsible and reprehensible” efforts to quash the lawsuit, which she said flew in the face of Trudeau’s promise to support victims of sexual abuse.
“We want to be able to work with the opposition on this issue because this is an important issue that impacts all of us,” Sajjan said.
“We need to make sure that we have a harassment-free workplace, especially in the Canadian Armed Forces.”