"Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honour killings,' female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other gender-based violence."We wouldn't want to make people "defensive." Oh my. That might lead to people being uncomfortable.During an interview with radio station Newstalk 1010, Trudeau, the Liberal immigration critic, said he was "uncomfortable" with the government labelling honour killings as "barbaric," a remark that sparked a series of attacks from Conservative MPs.
"You could say it's absolutely unacceptable as a phrase," said Trudeau, adding that the word could have the effect of making newcomers "defensive."(link)
That might lead to some people feeling unwelcome. Like people who might believe in "honour killings."
I gotta tell you, unlike some, I don't spend one moment at night worrying about making killers "defensive."
But hey - mistakes happen. Even to the best of us. No need to go overboard on Trudeau over this (The Tories have better things to do). I'm sure Trudeau realized how wrong he was as he spoke the words out of his mouth - Just make a quick apology and forget about it.
Instead he did this:
"Perhaps I got tangled in semantic weeds in my comments, particularly in view of the Conservatives' cynicism on these issues. I want to make clear that I think the acts described are heinous, barbaric acts that are totally unacceptable in our society," he wrote in an email to Postmedia News.Either you should apologize completely, honestly, or you shouldn't bother."I retract my comments and apologize if they've been interpreted by any one as dismissing or diminishing the serious and appalling nature of honour killings and other gender-based violence."
He added: "My expectation — given their vehemence against me — now that the Conservatives take this issue more seriously than their record indicates, is that they will immediately bring forward a comprehensive national strategy to combat violence against women as the House of Commons has been calling for since 2008."
I'm not convinced, after reading what he said above, that he entirely realizes how wrong he was. He's left he impression that he still agrees with some aspect of what he previously said.
I'm sure Trudeau doesn't believe that "honour killings" are anything less than "barbaric."
The point is he's acting like a complete douchebag right now. The Tories did nothing wrong here. They've done plenty wrong elsewhere that he can talk about. But an apology isn't the time to talk about it because it makes you look like a twit. It isn't the time for qualifiers. What you said was wrong - admit it and move on. It's not about "semantic weeds" or how people "interpreted" your comments - your comments were wrong and offensive.
Instead he's managed to create some EXTRA negative headlines for his team.
Iggy Puff, wisely, is not defending his shadow minister - how could he?
This is a bad day for Trudeau. My advice to him would be to suck it up and take it like a man. The rest of us should take a valium and let it go - we could have easily made the mistake ourselves.