NDP’S Martin defends foul slur on senator
Tory draws ire for suggesting killers hang themselves
Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin added fuel to the obscenity-laden firestorm he created this week when he cursed at a Conservative senator who suggested murderers should be given ropes to hang themselves.
On Wednesday, Martin called Sen. Pierre-hugues Boisvenu an “a--hole” for the comment that sparked controversy. When demands for an apology were made Thursday, Martin refused.
“Nobody elected this son of a bitch, he should keep his comments to himself,” Martin told the Winnipeg Free Press.
He added perhaps his only mistake was that he didn’t include the required honorific when addressing a senator. “I should have called him an honourable a--hole.”
Boisvenu triggered his own controversy with his comments Wednesday when he was asked about the government’s omnibus crime bill, which gives stiffer penalties for certain violent crimes.
“Each assassin should have the right to a rope in his cell to make a decision about his or her life,” Boisvenu said Wednesday on his way into the weekly Conservative caucus meeting.
Boisvenu is an outspoken victims’ rights advocate. His daughter was raped and murdered by a repeat offender in Quebec in 2002. He was appointed to the senate in 2009.
Suicide prevention advocates and opposition MPS accused him of inciting suicide.
Boisvenu retracted his remarks later in the day and said he was sorry if he offended anyone whose relatives had committed suicide. On Thursday, however, he noted he received hundreds of e-mails supporting his call.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper distanced himself from the comment but noted Boisvenu’s tragic family circumstances.
“We all understand that Senator Boisvenu and his family have suffered horribly in the past; we understand his emotions in that regard,” Harper said during question period Wednesday.
Manitoba Senior Minister and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews demanded Martin apologize Thursday.
“Pat Martin’s constituents, and indeed all Canadians, would be better served if the MP and his softon-crime party would direct their outrage and vitriol at the criminals who victimize innocent, law-abiding Canadians rather than at a senator whose family has suffered a terrible loss at the hands of a repeat offender,” Toews said in a letter to the editor.
This is the second time in recent months Martin has been called to apologize for cursing. In November he went on a profanity-laced tirade on Twitter when the Conservatives moved to close debate on a budget bill.
“This is a f---ing disgrace . . . closure again. And on the Budget! There’s not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot sh--,” he wrote. When someone on Twitter then called Martin a “foul mouth socialist” Martin responded with “f--- you.” He told another critic to “eat my shorts.”