OTTAWA — Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said his heckling in the House of Commons about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taking baths in the New York consul general’s luxurious tub had “nothing to do with sex.”
On Thursday, Garnett confessed to making the comment in the House the day prior after Liberals and the NDP blasted the Conservative benches for what they claim was a “homophobic” comment.
Trudeau claimed that a Conservative MP had made a “casual homophobic comment” about him taking a bath with Tom Clark, the New York consul general currently at the centre of controversy over his new $9-million, taxpayer-funded luxury residence.
NDP whip Heather McPherson had called out Genuis directly on Wednesday and asked him to “apologize for his homophobic and disgusting comment.”
Genuis argued that his comment was mischaracterized as something of sexual nature. MPs at the time were debating Trudeau’s trip earlier in the week to New York.
“It had nothing to do with sex. I wasn’t thinking about sex at all,” Genuis told MPs.
In the House on Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Trudeau if he had inspected Clark’s new $9-million official residence while in New York, and he listed the new residence’s luxurious elements, including “a handcrafted copper soaking tub.”
Trudeau, who spent three days in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and to appear in a late-night show, said he was “engaging with international leaders on fighting climate change, on solving global crises, on standing up unequivocally for Ukraine.”
According to the official transcript, someone shouted, “Does he engage with them in the bathtub?”
Genuis said that his comment should be taken in the context of Poilievre’s questioning.
“The point of that comment is to illustrate that, of course, meetings don’t take place in a bathtub. A luxurious bathtub has nothing to do with meetings,” he explained.
His explanation did not satisfy the Liberals and the NDP.
“It was horrendous that the Speaker allowed that to happen and it’s disgusting that that member refuses to apologize for a homophobic slur in the House of Commons. It makes this an unsafe work environment for so many of us. It’s disgusting,” said McPherson.
Liberal MP Ken Hardie said sometimes the manner words are perceived are more important than the intent behind them.
“A lot of very, very reasonable people perceived that to be a homophobic comment. So, it would have been just simple for Mr. Genuis to stand up and say, ‘I regret that it was received in that way and I apologize.’ That would have been really simple.”
Tensions have been running high in the House since MPs came back from their summer break. There has been routine name-calling between parties and, just last week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confronted Poilievre after Poilievre called him a “phoney and a fraud.”
Genuis’s most recent comment happened despite a unanimous motion passed by the Bloc Québécois this week to try to restore some civility among MPs.
National Post
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