Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized “unreservedly” for making physical contact with a female opposition member of Canadian Parliament who said Trudeau elbowed her in the chest as he waded through a group of mostly opposition lawmakers.
Opposition lawmaker Ruth Ellen Brosseau said she had to leave the Canadian House of Commons chamber on Wednesday.
“I was elbowed in the chest by the prime minister and then I had to leave. It was very overwhelming,” she said. “I missed the vote because of this.”
Footage from the House of Commons TV feed shows Trudeau wading into a clutch of lawmakers, mostly opposition members, and pulling a lawmaker through the crowd in order to get the vote started. As Trudeau turns around to pull the lawmaker through, Brosseau can be seen grimacing in pain.
Trudeau, a boxer and former bar bouncer, later stood up in Parliament and said it was not his intention to hurt anyone as he attempted to escort the lawmaker though a throng of opposition lawmakers in the chamber.
Trudeau said he thought the man was being impeded as he walked up the aisle of the chamber and wanted to help him.
“I took it upon myself to go and assist him forward, which was, I now see, unadvisable as a course of action,” said Trudeau, who characterized his actions as “unacceptable.”
“I apologize for that unreservedly and I look for opportunities to make amends,” Trudeau said.
Opposition New Democrat lawmaker Peter Julian called it a “pretty violent push” and said he had never seen such behavior in his 12 years in Parliament.
“Physical force in this house is never permitted,” he said.
Opposition Conservative Andrew Scheer said he was sitting across from Trudeau and said it was clear he lost his temper.
“He was motivated by anger and lost his temper,” Scheer said. “It is very, very unfortunate. We had a member of Parliament that wasn’t able to vote.”
Opposition New Democrat leader Thomas Mulcair later said to Trudeau: “What kind of man elbows a woman?” in the chamber before lawmakers intervened to make sure things did not escalate.
Tempers have been running high as the government pushes through a motion to limit debate on its euthanasia legislation.
Interim opposition Conservative leader Rona Ambrose called the prime minister’s behavior shocking and embarrassing and said Trudeau’s clear intent was to intimidate lawmakers physically and his actions resulted in Brosseau being shoved into a desk.
“He should be ashamed,” Ambrose said in a statement.
Opposition Conservative lawmaker Jason Kenney said on Twitter that if former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper had ever physically bullied members of Parliament like Trudeau, there would be immediate and widespread demands for his resignation.
“No sane person watching that video could come to any conclusion but that it was an accident. Stupid of him to be over there, but come on,” political commentator Andrew Coyne said on Twitter.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May, whose seat in the House of Commons gave her a ringside seat for the encounter and subsequent arguments, called for calm at one point — and suggested that the New Democrat lawmakers might have been milling about on the floor in order to delay the vote.
“It was most unwise of the prime minister to attempt to move along the vote, but the second contact with my friend [Brosseau], which is certainly the one that was the most emotional for the member involved, was clearly, from my perspective ... unintentional,” May said.
“He had not seen her behind him. That is the truth. Now you can like it or not like it,” she added.
Canadian House Of Commons Speaker Geoff Regan concluded that Brosseau’s privileges as a member of Parliament had been breached, which means the encounter is to be examined by an all-party committee.
The kerfuffle comes as a possible blow to Trudeau’s image as a modern, feminist leader.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in