sexism

Friday June 18, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 18, 2021

Green Party’s Annamie Paul survives emergency meeting over leadership

The leadership of the Green Party’s Annamie Paul is safe — for now — after party brass decided late Tuesday not to kick-start a process that could have ultimately ousted her as leader of the party.

October 7, 2020

The party’s federal council — which is the governing body of the party — held an emergency meeting Tuesday night that lasted more than three-and-a-half hours. Officials were expected to hold a vote on whether to trigger a complex process under the party’s constitution that could have declared no-confidence in Paul’s leadership.

That vote did not end up taking place, multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting told CBC News.

Instead, sources say, the federal council adopted a separate motion asking Paul to publicly repudiate one of Paul’s former senior advisers, Noah Zatzman, who accused many politicians — including unspecified Green MPs — of discrimination and antisemitism in a social media post last month.

The motion also calls for Paul to “explicitly support” the Green Party caucus. If not, the motion says, Paul would face a vote of non-confidence on July 20.

Tuesday night’s decision follows a difficult few weeks for the party, which has been ripped apart by internal disputes over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As violence in the region escalated, Paul issued a statement calling for a ceasefire and condemning both Palestinian rocket attacks and excessive Israeli military force, an apparent attempt to put forward a moderate position close to that of the Trudeau government.

Green MP Jenica Atwin — who has since left the Green caucus to join the Liberals — ripped into Paul’s statement on Twitter. “It is a totally inadequate statement,” Atwin wrote. “Forced evictions must end. I stand with Palestine and condemn the unthinkable airstrikes in Gaza. End Apartheid.”

Green MP Paul Manly also took issue with Paul’s statement, saying the planned removal of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah “is ethnic cleansing.”

Zatzman responded with a Facebook post stating that Greens “will work to defeat you and bring in progressive climate champions who are antifa and pro LGBT and pro indigenous sovereignty and Zionists!!!!!”

Zatzman is no longer an adviser to the leader. His six-month contract, slated to expire on July 4 and obtained by The Canadian Press, stipulates that the party will pay Zatzman a fee for time worked beyond 100 hours per month.

CBC News reached out to the Green Party, Paul and Zatzman for comment after Tuesday’s meeting. (CBC) 

 

Friday January 22, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 22, 2021

Conservatives have voted to expel Derek Sloan from caucus

August 25, 2020

Conservative MPs today voted to expel Derek Sloan from caucus after the eastern Ontario MP accepted a donation from a notorious white nationalist.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole initiated the ouster earlier this week after news emerged that Paul Fromm — whose ties to white supremacist and neo-Nazi causes have long been documented — had contributed $131 to Sloan’s leadership campaign.

Sloan fought against the vote, saying he was unaware of the source of the donation because Fromm used his full name, Frederick P. Fromm.

Conservatives voted by secret ballot today, with the majority of MPs voting to remove Sloan from their benches. 

In a statement issued this afternoon, O’Toole called the donation the “last straw.”

July 16, 2020

“The Conservative caucus voted to remove Derek Sloan not because of one specific event, but because of a pattern of destructive behaviour involving multiple incidents and disrespect towards the Conservative team for over a year,” he said.

“These actions have been a consistent distraction from our efforts to grow the party and focus on the work we need to do. Events of the past week were simply the last straw and led to our caucus making the decision it did today.”

News of Fromm’s contribution was first reported by PressProgress, a non-profit news website funded by the left-leaning Broadbent Institute.

Sloan, who was elected in 2019 to represent the riding of Hastings—Lennox and Addington, argued his team couldn’t vet every donation to his leadership campaign last year. (CBC) 

 

Thursday January 30, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday January 30, 2003 Sweating the Sweater Stuff Defence Minister John McCallum came under a barrage of unfriendly fire yesterday when he made a "flippant" remark about Tory MP Elsie Wayne's glistening sweater. The comment came after Wayne asked the minister if special paint to identify Canadian armoured vehicles in the battlefield would be used to ensure our soldiers didn't become victims of friendly fire. "What steps has the minister of defence taken to obtain the necessary marking system to avoid any more tragic losses?" Wayne asked as the sequined pattern in her black sweater shimmered under the Commons lights. "If our soldiers were to wear the dress of the honourable member ... they would be very well identified," shot back McCallum to the laughter of some Grit MPs. "It was a sexist remark and it was a remark that trivialized a very serious question - quite literally about the life and death of Canadian Forces in service," grumbled Tory Leader Joe Clark outside the Commons. A furious Wayne demanded an apology. (Source: CBC News) Canada, Elsie Wayne, clothing, Christmas, John McCallum, Parliament, sexismÊ

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 30, 2003

Sweating the Sweater Stuff

Defence Minister John McCallum came under a barrage of unfriendly fire yesterday when he made a “flippant” remark about Tory MP Elsie Wayne’s glistening sweater.

The comment came after Wayne asked the minister if special paint to identify Canadian armoured vehicles in the battlefield would be used to ensure our soldiers didn’t become victims of friendly fire.

“What steps has the minister of defence taken to obtain the necessary marking system to avoid any more tragic losses?” Wayne asked as the sequined pattern in her black sweater shimmered under the Commons lights.

“If our soldiers were to wear the dress of the honourable member … they would be very well identified,” shot back McCallum to the laughter of some Grit MPs.

“It was a sexist remark and it was a remark that trivialized a very serious question – quite literally about the life and death of Canadian Forces in service,” grumbled Tory Leader Joe Clark outside the Commons.

A furious Wayne demanded an apology. (Source: CBC News)