Backbone sighting;
Embattled rookie MP for Hastings and Lennox and Addington Derek Sloan says his controversial criticism of Canada’s top doctor’s handling of COVID-19 was about her job performance, not about race.
The leadership candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada is standing by his assertion Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, should be pink-slipped for following slow-footed COVID-19 counter measures by the World Health Organization he believes delayed swifter protection for Canadians against the disease. […]
“When I made the statement, obviously, the idea people would think it was racist was not even on my mind. I would have said those statements about any public health officer that made those decisions in her spot,” Sloan said. “It had nothing to do with her background.”
“I have concerns about the way Dr. Tam has responded to the pandemic, I have concerns about the World Health Organization being sort of beholden to China, at least parroting this information from China. It has nothing to do with Dr. Tam’s background, what her ethnicity is. Outside of there being a lot of hysteria right now, I’m not sure where all of the confusion came from,” Sloan said.
Sloan asked, “what information is she using and who is it benefiting? I’m not questioning her motives, I’m saying as public health officer, she needs to avail herself of all public information.” […]
Sloan said it is his fiduciary duty to hold those in political power accountable on behalf of his electorate in his riding, many of whom, are facing personal and financial hardship amid self-isolation measures to stem the spread of the virus.
“Keep in mind, I get calls from businesses every day that are on the brink of failure in our very riding. To me, I’m sorry if I’m chomping a little bit too much here, but I’m concerned about people in my riding. And if I can raise issues that talk about how we could have done things better or how we can get out of this, that’s my duty to do so and I will always do that,” Sloan said.
“I won’t be issuing an apology. We’re going to be issuing additional communications to party members and doing additional interviews so that may help to clarify. I never mentioned her race and in no way was it part of my comments,” he said.
“People who are making that connection are being disingenuous.”
The first step to recovery is to recognize and call out bad faith arguments for what they are.