A Mississauga MP was forced to publicly apologize Thursday after complaining she hated Americans during a media scrum in Ottawa. "Damn Americans, I hate those bastards," Mississauga Centre MP Carolyn Parrish was heard to say by several reporters as she walked away from a media scrum.
Parrish said she was directing her remarks at her Brampton West-Mississauga Liberal colleague Colleen Beaumier, but it was clearly heard by several nearby reporters.
After her comment was publicized, Parrish issued an apology. The MP said she reacted "in the heat of the moment" in her anger at what she sees as American President George Bush's obsession with initiating a war in Iraq.
"My comments do not reflect my personal opinion of the American people and they certainly do not reflect the views of the government of Canada," she said.
The comments renewed criticism by Opposition members and some parts of the media that the ChrÈtien government is anti-American.
Parrish's remarks brought a flood of reaction yesterday to both her offices in Ottawa and Mississauga. By 10:30 a.m., the Ottawa office had already received some 1,500 e-mails and numerous telephone calls, many from angry Americans.
The phone lines were busy all day at Parrish's constituency office, where another 200 e-mails were received. A spokesman said that most callers "were distressed over her remarks," but there were some calls of support.
A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Toronto said it received a large number of calls. "Most of them were calling to say that they were sorry she'd said those things," the spokesman said.
Mississauga's David Braund was one of many residents upset with the comments.
"Do you realize that your professionalism and your integrity have been deeply compromised by those comments?" he asked in a fax. "If Canada was under attack, who would you turn to for protection? I don't think an apology from you is enough."
For those familiar with Parrish's political career, it wasn't a big surprise to see her name in headlines on the front pages of Toronto's daily newspapers.
Candor and controversy have been the hallmarks of a career that began when Parrish was elected a school trustee in 1985.
In an interview with The News a year after she became chair of the Peel Board of Education, Parrish said, "I've always been outspoken and extremely opinionated...some would even say I'm outrageous."
After she left the school board, Parrish called for abolition of elected boards, much to the chagrin of her former colleagues.
Shortly after being elected to Parliament in 1993, the 56-year-old declared that a fourth runway at Pearson International Airport would be built "over my dead body." A few months later, she supported the construction of the same runway.
Most recently, Parrish has been part of a restive back bench that has been fighting for more power for MPs.
She has been an outspoken opponent of a war against Iraq without the support of the United Nations and organized a peace march at City Hall Feb. 2 that drew about 1,000 Mississaugans.
