Puppy-gate

A lot has been made recently about comments that Peter MacKay allegedly made regarding Belinda Stronach last week during question period – editorials, letters, and even an article in the McGill Daily’s Body Politik section (by none other than the lovely Denise Brunsdon).Do I have to summarize the situation? I’m going to, even though the vastmajority of people who would read this note are already quite familiar with it. In the House of Commons Question Period last week, MacKay was asked about the effects of pollution on animals. Liberal MP David McGuinty asked MacKay about his dog, and MacKay allegedly motioned towards Stronach’s empty seat in the House of Commons and said, “You already have her.”

Firstly, let’s get this straight. There is no proof MacKay ever made such a statement. There is simply nothing other than the accusations of Liberal MPs (who one by one jump on the bandwagon). There is no record of the reference to a dog being mentioned in Hansard (the transcripts of debates in the House of Commons). The House of Commons speaker, Liberal MP Peter Milliken, did not hear the ‘slur’ occur. The audio recording of the proceedings in the House of Commons did not record any references to dogs. Yet the National Post decided to print a story titled ‘MacKay refers to Stronach as a dog’, and Ms. Brunsdon authored an article about the situation in which she assumes the allegations as fact (though humourous, not so great on the truth-o-meter). I’m not going to list every article I’ve found while writing this article, but you get the point.

It annoys me that the media automatically assumes MacKay’s guilt. It is sensationalist and the media has a deference to being offended – why not publish this, then? The burden of proof is on the Liberal MPs, since they’re making claims that aren’t backed by any evidence. Indeed, the evidence seems to be wildly in MacKay’s favour, and until there is any proof to the contrary, I’m going to
assume he didn’t do it. MacKay has denied he ever said anything about a dog, and since there is no evidence to the contrary, it seems reasonable to believe him.

Of course, I want to make sure that everyone knows that if he did say such a thing, I would certainly condemn it. No one, regardless of gender, should be referred to as a dog. The problem with this whole situation is that it really has nothing to do with sex. Sure, it’s degrading, but if he did say it, I really don’t see that this reflects MacKay’s view on women. He just really dislikes Stronach (which is understandable, seeing how she totally screwed him and the Conservative Party over). The media has screwed up here, capitalizing on the sensationalism of having a Conservative MP uttering sexist remarks towards an ex-girlfriend from a very highly publicized relationship. The media is completely obsessed. It’s just another day, another example of anti-Conservative bias in Canadian media, with the media turning personal enmity into a tabloid-esque national scandal about the status of women.

(Tim thinks he’s not allowed to write to the McGill Daily or Tribune (or Le Delit, for that matter) due to SSMU By-Laws/Constitution, so he’ll rant on facebook and in his blog.)