Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs has drawn accolades from her peers and made some national headlines for her rebuttal after Finance Minister Bill Morneau suggested she should talk to some of the Albertans she represents.
Stubbs was criticizing the federal government’s proposed carbon tax when Morneau made the remarks in his response, suggesting Albertans would be paying lower taxes overall this year than last. Stubbs replied with a quick “Thanks for the mansplain” before returning to her argument.
Stubbs elaborated further on the episode on social media. “I’ve never really used the term “mansplain” seriously before. It usually annoys me because I often perceive it to just be a way to cry ‘sexism’ when something is actually just vigorous debate. Active, even heated, exchanges in QP definitely don’t bother me, because I myself am an aggressive and combative advocate for my riding and my province. My reaction was not to the last part of the Minister’s response with his usual repeated talking points about the Liberals’ (terrible) fiscal policies, it was to his initial response that I should actually ‘talk to Albertans’ – as if I don’t – (…and, btw, I am one…), in order to better understand – as if I don’t – the very issue I just pursued in the question I asked him.
“Afterwards, I was sort of relieved to see the pop culture definition does seem to fit his reaction. He should have just defended his (damaging) fiscal approach and focused on the subject of my question. ”
The incident has made national headlines, being reported by the likes of the Huffington Post and iPolitics.
You can watch the exchange yourself below.