It would be entirely understandable at this point if one or two impartial observers got the uncomfortable, nagging feeling that Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin has a bit of an anger management problem that rears its head most barefacedly when he’s addressing women of the female persuasion. His embarrassing, almost raging behaviour against female Conservative MP Candace Hoeppner , for example — “You just stay out of it!” — during a CBC appearance on March 7th certainly had a unease-inducing edge to it, to the point where even host Evan Soloman was compelled to make pointed reference to his rather extravagant anger.
Right around the same time, a few months after Conservative MP Kelly Block introduced a bill that would require First Nations chiefs and councilors to “make public every year the salaries and reimbursements…they receive from the federal government”, Martin chose to address her point by personally insulting her, calling her “a hapless dupe for a bunch of rednecks.” Several weeks later at a Parliamentary Committee hearing Martin was manifestly condescending, almost enraged, and – arguably – borderline abusive towards International Affairs minister Bev Oda, whom he constantly interrupted and spoke down to in a tone that was, for many, a bit unease-inducing.
This pattern of being a bit…rage-y, and on-edge, apparently continues: When Martin appeared at an all-candidates meeting in his riding on April 12, one of his female constituents stepped forward to the microphone to ask him why he didn’t return calls from his constituents, and to inquire how much time he spends in his riding (apparently, he spends a certain amount of his time in BC, where his recently-divorced wife took ownership of their hobby farm). Martin proceeded to take the lowest road imaginable by verbally attacking this woman he didn’t know, and in the most gratuitous way imaginable:
“How many restraining orders do you have against you?”
When the nonplussed women informed him that she had no restraining orders whatsoever against her, Martin allegedly said:
“That’s not what I heard”
Martin subsequently issued a formal apology in which he avers that it’s all a case of mistaken identity. As a non-Conservative MP, his apology must, of course, be taken at face value.
