TORONTO: Canada's first Sikh defence minister Harjit Sajjan was interrupted in the Parliament as an opposition member shouted that MPs needed an “English-to-English” translation as he spoke. Veteran Conservative MP Jason Kenney sparked a controversy in the question period of the Parliament with a taunt directly targeted at Sajjan while he was talking about the military mission against the Islamic State. Former defence minister himself, Kenney said MPs needed a translation for Sajjans' responses.
The 45 year old Sajjan was named Canada's defence minister in November after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 30-member Liberal cabinet was sworn in. Fellow liberals were quick to act in his defence and pounced on Kenney, calling his heckling racist. After the question period, Liberal Kevin Lamoureux rose on a point of order asking Kenney to apologise for an “inappropriate comment” directed at the defence minister.
“I'm wondering if the member would do the proper thing and apologise or at the very least explain his comments,” Lamoureux said. Indian-origin Liberal MP Ruby Sahota called Kenney's refusal to apologise “unacceptable”. Kenney, later took to Twitter to explain why he made the comment, saying he found the minister's answer “totally incoherent”.
