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Inky Mark, Member of Parliament |
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For Immediate Release December 18, 2000
Ottawa- Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration Inky Mark says Elinor Caplan, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration should either resign or be removed from her post as she is unfit to represent the Crown.
Mark was reacting to the recent media reports indicating that Caplan would not resign nor would she apologize for comments she made during the federal election. Those comments Mark says insulted more than 3 million Canadian citizens.
"She called Canadian Alliance supporters "Holocaust deniers, prominent bigots and racists". More than 3 million people across this country supported the Canadian Alliance. I guess that's 3 million people she has no desire to make amends to and be tolerant of. Her job requires tolerance. So far, I am seeing very little evidence that she possesses that character," Mark said.
Mark went on to draw a parallel between Caplan's comments and those made by Canadian Alliance candidate Betty Granger. He said that both of these women made remarks which should not have been said but that there was one key difference. The difference he said was that Granger apologized for her mistake.
"Both Mrs. Caplan and Mrs. Granger made very intolerant and insulting remarks. Neither should have said what they did. But Mrs. Granger apologized immediately and publicly for her oral mistake. After 5 days of media attention, she walked away from the election. Mrs. Caplan, refuses to apologize or even acknowledge she said something wrong. Her oral mistake got one day of media coverage. How does a Minister of the Crown get away with that?"
Mark concluded by saying that the portfolio of Citizenship and Immigration requires someone who can handle and tolerate the diversity of demographics involved. Minister Caplan, he said, has proven she is incapable of doing so.
For more information, please call, Inky Mark, MP (613) 992-3176
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