feminist blogs

The big scandal in Canada right now is over whether it is OK (or appropriate) to call Liberal MP Belinda Stronach a bitch.

It started out simply enough. Stronach was a Conservative MP, dating another Conservative -- Peter MacKay.

Then Stronach decided to "cross the floor" and switch to the Liberal party. The day she announced this move, the press went to town with MacKay, who posed on his farm with his dog looking woeful.

That was in the spring of 2005.

Jump to last week. This is how the whole bitch debacle started.

The besieged Tory MP was once again forced to deny he ever called his ex-girlfriend - and now Liberal - Belinda Stronach a dog in an off mike joke in the House of Commons last week.

The barely audible exchange supposedly has MacKay being asked by a Liberal "What about your dog?"

A voice can be heard saying something like "You have her" and critics charge MacKay pointed to her ex's empty seat as he said it.

- CityNews

Then, just as it seemed the issue was going to pass, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel (for the Conservative Mulroney government of the 1980s), Norman Spector, comes out on a Vancouver radio station calling Stronach a bitch.

He doesn't just say it once, but over and over.

Spector told a Vancouver radio talk show that Stronach's public breakup last year with Peter MacKay, who is now foreign affairs minister, as well as a role she is alleged to have had in the marital problems of former Toronto Maple Leaf Tie Domi, means she is a bitch.

"I think she's a bitch. It's as simple as that," Spector said. He added that he believed 90 per cent of men would agree, considering her involvement with the former National Hockey League player and her break-up with MacKay.

-Toronto Star

In case you're not privy to the Tie Domi thing -- basically, Stronach is dating the former Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player. He is going through a break up with his wife. For some reason, this makes Stronach a bitch.

So, what's with all of the fuss about Stronach? Why has she suddenly become the most attacked woman in Canadian politics? Is it because of her blonde hair? Her money? Her looks?

We know nothing about other MPs personal lives -- not the men nor the women -- and for all we know, they could lead just as interesting lives.

They probably do.

So, to Mr. Spector, I say: Get a life.

The big scandal in Canada right now is over whether it is OK (or appropriate) to call Liberal MP Belinda Stronach a bitch.

It started out simply enough. Stronach was a Conservative MP, dating another Conservative -- Peter MacKay.

Then Stronach decided to "cross the floor" and switch to the Liberal party. The day she announced this move, the press went to town with MacKay, who posed on his farm with his dog looking woeful.

That was in the spring of 2005.

Jump to last week. This is how the whole bitch debacle started.

The besieged Tory MP was once again forced to deny he ever called his ex-girlfriend - and now Liberal - Belinda Stronach a dog in an off mike joke in the House of Commons last week.

The barely audible exchange supposedly has MacKay being asked by a Liberal "What about your dog?"

A voice can be heard saying something like "You have her" and critics charge MacKay pointed to her ex's empty seat as he said it.

- CityNews

Then, just as it seemed the issue was going to pass, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel (for the Conservative Mulroney government of the 1980s), Norman Spector, comes out on a Vancouver radio station calling Stronach a bitch.

He doesn't just say it once, but over and over.

Spector told a Vancouver radio talk show that Stronach's public breakup last year with Peter MacKay, who is now foreign affairs minister, as well as a role she is alleged to have had in the marital problems of former Toronto Maple Leaf Tie Domi, means she is a bitch.

"I think she's a bitch. It's as simple as that," Spector said. He added that he believed 90 per cent of men would agree, considering her involvement with the former National Hockey League player and her break-up with MacKay.

-Toronto Star

In case you're not privy to the Tie Domi thing -- basically, Stronach is dating the former Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player. He is going through a break up with his wife. For some reason, this makes Stronach a bitch.

So, what's with all of the fuss about Stronach? Why has she suddenly become the most attacked woman in Canadian politics? Is it because of her blonde hair? Her money? Her looks?

We know nothing about other MPs personal lives -- not the men nor the women -- and for all we know, they could lead just as interesting lives.

They probably do.

So, to Mr. Spector, I say: Get a life.

The big scandal in Canada right now is over whether it is OK (or appropriate) to call Liberal MP Belinda Stronach a bitch.

It started out simply enough. Stronach was a Conservative MP, dating another Conservative -- Peter MacKay.

Then Stronach decided to "cross the floor" and switch to the Liberal party. The day she announced this move, the press went to town with MacKay, who posed on his farm with his dog looking woeful.

That was in the spring of 2005.

Jump to last week. This is how the whole bitch debacle started.

The besieged Tory MP was once again forced to deny he ever called his ex-girlfriend - and now Liberal - Belinda Stronach a dog in an off mike joke in the House of Commons last week.

The barely audible exchange supposedly has MacKay being asked by a Liberal "What about your dog?"

A voice can be heard saying something like "You have her" and critics charge MacKay pointed to her ex's empty seat as he said it.

- CityNews

Then, just as it seemed the issue was going to pass, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel (for the Conservative Mulroney government of the 1980s), Norman Spector, comes out on a Vancouver radio station calling Stronach a bitch.

He doesn't just say it once, but over and over.

Spector told a Vancouver radio talk show that Stronach's public breakup last year with Peter MacKay, who is now foreign affairs minister, as well as a role she is alleged to have had in the marital problems of former Toronto Maple Leaf Tie Domi, means she is a bitch.

"I think she's a bitch. It's as simple as that," Spector said. He added that he believed 90 per cent of men would agree, considering her involvement with the former National Hockey League player and her break-up with MacKay.

-Toronto Star

In case you're not privy to the Tie Domi thing -- basically, Stronach is dating the former Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player. He is going through a break up with his wife. For some reason, this makes Stronach a bitch.

So, what's with all of the fuss about Stronach? Why has she suddenly become the most attacked woman in Canadian politics? Is it because of her blonde hair? Her money? Her looks?

We know nothing about other MPs personal lives -- not the men nor the women -- and for all we know, they could lead just as interesting lives.

They probably do.

So, to Mr. Spector, I say: Get a life.