Minister, I think you should be clear with Canadians that when you say there's not as much economic opportunity, what you're saying is that we're not able to squeeze out of these women as much taxation as we would like and, therefore, we want them to enter the workforce full-time so we can get more of those taxes so we can pay for our out-of-control spending.
As leaders, we make mistakes from time to time, but what sets a good leader apart from a poor leader is that he is able to take responsibility for his actions.
In your meeting with the finance committee you took offence to a question that was asked by my colleague Lisa Raitt. You got angry with her, and you stated that you and your government “will drag along the neanderthals who don't agree” with you.
Minister, it is not only inappropriate for you to call Ms. Raitt a neanderthal, but the image that you paint of grabbing someone and dragging them along actually perpetuates violence and discrimination against women and girls in this country. It perpetuates the negative stereotype or negative attitude that is very prevalent already, that men are smarter than women and women deserve to be dominated by men. That is the image you paint, one of dragging my colleague along.
Minister, my question is very simple. Would you like to take responsibility for your actions today and apologize to my colleague Lisa Raitt?