Conservative MP Jason Kenney sparked controversy in question period Monday with a heckle directed at Canada's defence minister that a Liberal MP later deemed "racist."
Kenney, a former minister of defence, directed the heckle over his answer to a question about the Canadian mission in Syria. The Liberals said Kenney yelled he needed an “English to English” translation of the minister’s response in order to understand the government’s convoluted stance on the mission.
Sajjan is Sikh and immigrated from India as a child, so many Liberals took Kenney’s words as barb related to the minister’s (very subtle) accent.
After question period, government House leader Kevin Lamoureux rose in the House of Commons and called for Kenney to apologize for his "inappropriate comment."
"I'm wondering if the member would do the proper thing and apologize or at the very least explain his comments," Lamoureux said. Kenney refused to apologize for his remarks, saying Sajjan's answer was "totally incoherent," prompting shouts of "shame" from Liberal MPs. Later, on Twitter, Liberal MP Raj Grewal called Kenney's remarks "unacceptable."
@jkenney should apologize for his comments in question period today when @HarjitSajjan was speaking #unacceptable
— Raj Grewal (@RajLiberal) February 1, 2016
Shame on @jkenney for his racist remarks during today's qp toward #harjitsajjan. His refusal to apologize is unacceptable.
— Ruby Sahota (@MPRubySahota) February 1, 2016
Kenney, who previously served as minister for multiculturalism, tweeted Tuesday his comments had nothing to do with Sajjan’s linguistic skills but the lack of substance in his answers.
@rajliberal 1/ I have huge respect for Mr. Sajjan. As CIC Minsiter I featured him as a role model in the Discover Canada Citizenship guide!
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) February 1, 2016
@rajliberal 2/ Unfortunately, I find his answers on ending combat against ISIS to be at best unpersuasive & at worst incoherent. That's the
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) February 1, 2016
@rajliberal 3/ point I tried to make. Sorry if it was misconstrued in any way. He's a fine, intelligent man but, IMHO, his position is wrong
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) February 1, 2016
