You too, Canada? You too?
Keith Ashfield, a Conservative Party member of the Canadian House of Commons, was recently on tour to promote the Canadian budget. When he popped into a local home for a photo op, he found the most awkward way ever to compliment a young lady for her cookie baking skills. After enjoying his free pastry, the dummy made an ass out of himself when he said she’d “make a wonderful wife for somebody someday”.
It’s true — check out 5:34 in this video. Thanks, official elected to look out for the welfare of all Canadian boys citizens!
It’s just odd — like you’d go out of your way to say that about someone’s baking skills. Was “these cookies are great,” or “you have some serious baking skills,” too vanilla for PM Ashfield? He wanted to throw in some good old-fashioned sexism to go with his tasty chocolate chip.
Even worse, when confronted about the comment yesterday by the New Democratic Party deputy leader, Megan Leslie, he evaded the question, and acted as if his passing misogyny wasn’t even important enough to acknowledge.
Ms. Megan Leslie (Halifax, NDP): Mr. Speaker, leave it to the Conservatives to encourage young women to get married as part of their economic action plan.
When the member said, “Grace, you’re a great cook. You’re going to make a wonderful wife for somebody”, his comments were disrespectful. In other words, it is like saying: there, there, stop planning for your future.
Is this the kind of response that women can expect from the Conservatives with their economic action plan?
Hon. Keith Ashfield (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, CPC): Mr. Speaker, obviously the opposition members have little fault to find in our budget if this is the only type of question they can ask in this House.
Actually, there are plenty about budget issues in that talk, but Leslie’s question wasn’t totally direct. And yes, it is an issue of budget, in a way; if Ashfield thinks that one half of Canada’s population is only good for cooking and cleaning — perhaps that’s something that should be addressed. His total dismissal is disappointing, immature, and downright embarrassing.
[H/t Zoë Stark]