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Canadian PM Trudeau Physically Assaults Female MP on Parliament Floor
Wednesday afternoon, self-described feminist and progressive hero Justin Trudeau was caught on camera grabbing an opposition whip on the wrist and elbowing a female legislator in her chest. All on the floor of Canada’s House of Commons. You can see the incident at about the 50-second mark of this video.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was accused of “manhandling” Opposition Whip Gord Brown and elbowing NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the House of Commons as MPs gathered for a vote on the government’s assisted-dying bill Wednesday afternoon.
In video from the House, Trudeau is seen walking toward Brown in a crowd of MPs in the Commons’ aisle, taking his arm in an apparent effort to move Brown towards his seat.
MPs were just about to vote on time allocation for bill C-14, the government’s physician-assisted dying legislation.
The prime minister later said he felt Brown was talking too slowly ahead of the vote.
The prime minister then crossed the floor and engaged in a loud and apparently heated conversation with NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.
NDP House Leader Peter Julian accused Trudeau of “manhandling” Brown, as MPs on all sides of the House shouted and Speaker Geoff Regan struggled to regain order in the House.
An emotional Brosseau said later in the House that she had been “elbowed in the chest by the prime minister,” bringing Trudeau to his feet once again to “apologize unreservedly.”
Brosseau said she was so upset from the incident that she had to leave the chamber, subsequently missing the vote.
A colleague of Brosseau’s, MP Nikki Ashton, didn’t exactly accept the apology.
“I am ashamed to be a witness to the person who holds the highest position in our country do such an act,” she said. “I want to say that for all of us who witnessed this, this was deeply traumatic, what I will say, if we apply a gendered lens, it is very important that young women in this space feel safe to come here and work here. He made us feel unsafe and we’re deeply troubled by the conduct of the prime minister of this country.”
That’s the third-wave feminist version of high crimes and misdemeanors. Viewing the video, the incident is more Corey Lewandowski than Taiwan Parliament, but it might take the shine off of global progressives’ favorite new leader.
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The Left: scratch the surface, expose thugs. That was just thuggish behavior, anyway you slice it.
Bob & Ray live!
Now you’re just toying with me.
He didn’t do it on purpose. It looks as though he didn’t even realize what happened. Assault? Really? Now, if this were a college campus, call in the National Guard and the DoJ.
They have the trump blueprint to follow….
At least they have the trump blue print to follow… Deny it took place, when video comes out claim she deserved it, attack her character, and finally threaten to sue her. should work out just fine….
Wow! I was watching Parliament Night in Canada and a Trump Rally broke out.
“When whips are outlawed, only progressive politicians will have whips.”
I’m not a fan of Justin Trudeau—at all—but the sensationalist and grossly exaggerated headline emphasizes the hypocrisy and low standards on the Ricochet main feed…and by a Ricochet editor to boot. I guess this is another example of the highly vaunted #NeverTrump principles on display. Disgusting.
A real fight…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50XRz65GKwE
Are they serious? I’ve looked at the video three times and he just bumped into a couple of people and led one off. Hello?
More like #NeverTrudeau. I’m highlighting hypocrisy by applying the progressives’ rules to progressives, as taught by Andrew Breitbart. If Stephen Harper had done this, they would be demanding jail time.
But what about the truth?
Okay, everybody needs to take a deep breath. There is a lot of humor to be mined here. Yes the Trudeau incident is not a pivotal moment in the history of assault. Yes, the Trudeau incident is not an apt comparison to Cory Lewandowski but give me a break if you can’t see any humor in this, well let me put it this way I will bend my knee to the Donald when he can walk on water. When he does post the video on You Tube.
Remember we laugh because we can.
No, picture it this way — Barack Obama storms onto the floor of the House, grabs Paul Ryan by the wrist to “coax” him to his place for the vote, and in the process, elbows Martha McSally in the chest — hard enough that she recoils and (very visibly) says, “Ow!”
It’s unseemly, at best. I think it’s a display of a man carried away by his temper and his newly acquired power. He’s a thug.
Look for the woman in the pony tail standing by the wood railing. It’s mostly reaction from her, but he definitely elbows her.
I was hoping somebody would pick up that gold club thing and start swinging.
Trudeau? Yes, technically it’s assault, but more importantly it’s a breach of decorum. When you’ve got those guys up front who got all dressed up in their robes and funny bib things, the least you can do is act like a grown up.
I included a large portion of the news report from the left-leaning CBC and the full video so viewers could decide for themselves. As with the Lewandowski incident, assault is assault – punches don’t need to be thrown to qualify as assault.
I wonder if women MPs can start carrying mace, but I guess they already have a big one right there.
I agree…it’s hard to see exactly how it happened, but to my eyes it didn’t seem to be done on purpose—he probably wasn’t aware of who was behind him and accidentally elbowed the lady while stepping back and turning…I’ve done this many times. Question to lawyers: Does “physical assault” require intent?
If that’s the case, wouldn’t the headline “Canadian PM Trudeau Elbows Female MP on Parliament Floor” be more appropriate?
Bands.
Perhaps, “Canadian PM batters woman.”
From Wikipedia
Here we go again….
If this is the accepted definition of assault, it seems to me far too broad. Especially in this, our overly legalistic age.
Perhaps it was acceptable in the days when “no blood, no report” was the MO of the world, but today?
Specifically, “initiate harmful or offensive contact, or a threat to do so.” should not cover what is seen in that video.
Though that is entirely aside from the correct point that it is indecorous behavior for a PM to be dragging opposing whip about the floor, rather than saying something like “if the honorable member would get his rear in gear, we are trying to have a vote here!”
You do realize that broad is a micro-aggression.
It does appear that Trudeau ran into the woman accidentally… he seems to have a habit of getting angry and flouncing off, and this time ran into someone mid-flounce. Less excusable is his childishness and lack of propriety- grabbing Tory whip Gordon Brown’s arm to try to force him to move along. Still more childish is his attempt to excuse his behaviour by saying he was trying to “help” Mr. Brown to his seat, as though he were a little old lady instead of a former kayaking champion and hockey player. Of course, Trudeau is no stranger to immature outbursts and theatrical apologies; here’s one from what I term his “D’Artagnan” stage:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ2FmGOU4tE
His contact with the woman was an accidental bumping. Assault and/or battery requires intent, which was clearly absent in his contact with her.
The whip has a better case, but even there the contact was so incidental as to fail to rise to the level of a cognizable injury, in my opinion.
Seems he apologizes “unreservedly” a lot. Bless his little heart.
When you’ve got guys wearing robes and funny bib things you’ve already lost the grownup battle.