本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛PM gives Parrish the boot
Mississauga MP stomped on Bush-like doll, gets turfed after calling Martin 'weak'
OTTAWA — Carolyn Parrish, the maverick MP who represents a Mississauga riding and who gained notoriety for her outspoken anti-Americanism, has been kicked out of the Liberal party caucus.
Prime Minister Paul Martin made the decision today after Parrish’s latest outburst, which took direct aim at the Liberal leader and his closest advisers.
“I cannot, as leader of our party and the government caucus, tolerate behaviour that demeans and disrespects others,” Martin said.
“It is unacceptable.”
Parrish’s cardinal sin appears to have less to do with her repeated, undiplomatic outbursts against the George W. Bush White House than her comments on the prime minister himself.
“If he loses the next election and he has to resign, I wouldn’t shed a tear over it,” Parrish said yesterday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“I have absolutely no loyalty to this team — none.”
Her ejection from Liberal ranks reduces Martin’s tenuous minority in the House of Commons to 134 Liberal seats.
The Conservatives hold 99 seats, the Bloc Quebecois 54 and New Democrats 19.
Parrish becomes the second Independent in the Commons.
Parrish’s ejection was precipitated by another round of public Bush bashing.
With the president preparing to make his first state visit to Ottawa at the end of the month, Parrish taped a piece with the CBC comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
In the skit — which is to air tomorrow but has already appeared on CBC news programs and been requested by some U.S. networks — Parrish stomps a Bush doll under her booted heel.
When fellow parliamentarians, including some Liberals, criticized her behaviour, the veteran MP let loose.
Parrish said she won’t be silenced and that efforts by Martin to do so will backfire.
“After what they’ve put me through and lots of my colleagues, they can all go to hell,” she said. “But he’s not going to control me, so all he’s going to do is end up looking weak.”
Last year in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Parrish was caught on tape expressing her frustration to reporters: “Damn Americans, I hate the bastards.”
She apologized for the remark and avoided public censure by then prime minister Jean Chrétien.
But under Martin, Parrish has been reprimanded at least twice previously.
In August, she described supporters of the Bush plan for continental missile defence as a “coalition of the idiots” at a rally on Parliament Hill.
And following Bush’s re-election earlier this month, Parrish called him a “war-like” president and said American voters are ``completely out of step with most of the free world.
“I guess it’s a reflection of the profound psychological damage of 9-11.”
Both times, Martin reprimanded Parrish but ignored Opposition calls to eject her from Liberal caucus.
Since her initial “bastards” comment, Parrish has expressed no contrition for her outspokenness and was re-elected with a healthy majority in her Toronto riding of Mississauga-Erindale.
“I have opinions. They’re strongly held and colourfully expressed,” Parrish said this week.
“They always have been . . . I am not going to change the way I function. If I do that then (critics) have won, they’ve shut me down and . . . there are thousands of people who agree with me.”更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Mississauga MP stomped on Bush-like doll, gets turfed after calling Martin 'weak'
OTTAWA — Carolyn Parrish, the maverick MP who represents a Mississauga riding and who gained notoriety for her outspoken anti-Americanism, has been kicked out of the Liberal party caucus.
Prime Minister Paul Martin made the decision today after Parrish’s latest outburst, which took direct aim at the Liberal leader and his closest advisers.
“I cannot, as leader of our party and the government caucus, tolerate behaviour that demeans and disrespects others,” Martin said.
“It is unacceptable.”
Parrish’s cardinal sin appears to have less to do with her repeated, undiplomatic outbursts against the George W. Bush White House than her comments on the prime minister himself.
“If he loses the next election and he has to resign, I wouldn’t shed a tear over it,” Parrish said yesterday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“I have absolutely no loyalty to this team — none.”
Her ejection from Liberal ranks reduces Martin’s tenuous minority in the House of Commons to 134 Liberal seats.
The Conservatives hold 99 seats, the Bloc Quebecois 54 and New Democrats 19.
Parrish becomes the second Independent in the Commons.
Parrish’s ejection was precipitated by another round of public Bush bashing.
With the president preparing to make his first state visit to Ottawa at the end of the month, Parrish taped a piece with the CBC comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
In the skit — which is to air tomorrow but has already appeared on CBC news programs and been requested by some U.S. networks — Parrish stomps a Bush doll under her booted heel.
When fellow parliamentarians, including some Liberals, criticized her behaviour, the veteran MP let loose.
Parrish said she won’t be silenced and that efforts by Martin to do so will backfire.
“After what they’ve put me through and lots of my colleagues, they can all go to hell,” she said. “But he’s not going to control me, so all he’s going to do is end up looking weak.”
Last year in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Parrish was caught on tape expressing her frustration to reporters: “Damn Americans, I hate the bastards.”
She apologized for the remark and avoided public censure by then prime minister Jean Chrétien.
But under Martin, Parrish has been reprimanded at least twice previously.
In August, she described supporters of the Bush plan for continental missile defence as a “coalition of the idiots” at a rally on Parliament Hill.
And following Bush’s re-election earlier this month, Parrish called him a “war-like” president and said American voters are ``completely out of step with most of the free world.
“I guess it’s a reflection of the profound psychological damage of 9-11.”
Both times, Martin reprimanded Parrish but ignored Opposition calls to eject her from Liberal caucus.
Since her initial “bastards” comment, Parrish has expressed no contrition for her outspokenness and was re-elected with a healthy majority in her Toronto riding of Mississauga-Erindale.
“I have opinions. They’re strongly held and colourfully expressed,” Parrish said this week.
“They always have been . . . I am not going to change the way I function. If I do that then (critics) have won, they’ve shut me down and . . . there are thousands of people who agree with me.”更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net