Liberal MP Patty Hajdu attempted to have the Speaker force a Conservative MP to apologize after he used the common metaphor “ammunition” in reference to having a strong argument.
Hajdu claimed that the rhetorical phrase was “violent language” after Conservative MP Rick Perkins said, “Thanks for the ammunition” in the House of Commons
Perkins commented in response to the Liberal House Leader Steven Mackinnon evading questions regarding an ongoing ethics investigation.
Conservative MP Dane Lloyd was grilling Mackinnon about the “Other Randy” scandal.
The scandal surrounds a potential conflict of interest involving Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s business ties to Global Health Imports, a personal protective equipment company he co-founded in 2020.
Leaked text messages revealed that Boissonault may have continued dealing with the company after he took office, a violation of federal law.
While the name “Randy” was used in the text messages, Boissonnault claims that it does not refer to him.
“I’m not that ‘Randy,’” he said on Wednesday.
“Canadians want to know, ‘Who’s Randy?’ The mysterious Randy is in control of a fraudulent company called Global Health Imports and his business partner Steven Anderson says he’s a public official,” said Lloyd on Friday.
“And by pure coincidence, the minister of employment by the same name founded Global Health Imports and is a 50% shareholder. Now we just heard the minister say that he’s not involved, but isn’t he at all curious about who this Randy fellow is that’s committing fraud at a company he owns 50% at? Why won’t he tell us who this Randy is?”
Mackinnon responded by saying that Lloyd must have toiled all morning over his witty dialogue, wishing that it would get him noticed by Conservative Leader Pierre Polievere and hoping that it would lead to an exchange that would go viral but did not answer the question regarding the identity of the other Randy.
“He’s going to put it on Facebook, but what he won’t do is put this answer on Facebook, happily saving me from a thousand trolls online,” said Mackinnon. “But this member should know better, that he has asked those questions which presumes the dishonour of this member.”
This led to a drawn-out reaction from both sides, in which Perkins can be heard saying, “Thanks for the ammo,” as the jeering began to die down.
The comment likely referred to the fact that the clip now presumably would go viral given Mackinnon’s dodging of the question about who “Randy” was.
The Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu later responded by making a point of order that Perkins’ comment was akin to “violent language.”
“After our house leader answered a question and spoke of troll swarming that occurs online, the member from South Shore – St. Margarets (Perkins) shouted at him, ‘Thank you for the ammo’,” said Hadju.
“This violent language does not help in a climate where there is an 800% increase in threats of violence towards elected officials and I ask that the member apologize and retract his comment,” she added.
However, House Speaker Anthony Fergus didn’t buy Hadju’s interpretation.
“I have a different interpretation of that statement, of what might have been meant,” said Fergus. “I think we’ll just leave it there.”