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Tory MP apologizes for taped homophobic remarks
BRODIE FENLON AND JENNIFER MACMILLAN
Globe and Mail Update and Canadian Press
April 3, 2008 at 4:45 PM EDT
Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski apologized Thursday after the Saskatchewan NDP released a 16-year-old videotape featuring him and Premier Brad Wall that contains sexist, racist and homophobic comments.
In particular, the NDP said Mr. Lukiwski made “hateful†remarks on the 1991 tape shot at Conservative Party headquarters following a leader's debate, while Mr. Wall reportedly made inappropriate ethnic comments.
Those comments include a homophobic diatribe by Mr. Lukiwski, said NDP MP Bill Siksay, who repeated them Thursday during Question Period.
Mr. Siksay told the House of Commons that Mr. Lukiwski “allegedly states on the tape, ‘Let me put it to you this way. There's A's and B's. The A's are guys like me. The B's are homosexual faggots with dirt in their fingernails that transmit diseases.' â€
Mr. Lukiwski, 57, quickly apologized for the remarks, which he said don't represent his true views.
“I am truly, truly sorry. I'm ashamed [of] the comments. If I could take those comments back, I would. I would give anything in the world to take those comments back,†he said.
“I have no prejudice against gay people whatsoever. Those comments do not reflect the type of person I am.â€
Mr. Lukiwski did not address questions about his future and whether he will step down over the matter.
“Why would you videotape this, why would you keep it and why would you leave it behind?†Saskatchewan NDP deputy leader Pat Atkinson said at a press conference.
“We decided that given Mr. Lukiwski's comments – he's a member of Parliament representing the people of our province in Ottawa – that the comments were so troubling and so disturbing that people needed to know what he had said,†she said.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan said he was unfamiliar with the videotape but would take the matter seriously.
“The comments do sound distressing and inappropriate and they will have due attention,†Mr. Van Loan said.
A spokeswoman at Mr. Wall's office told globeandmail.com the Premier was not able to respond immediately to the allegations.
"We're just now reviewing the tape," said Bonny Braden. "We just got a copy a few minutes ago."
The New Democrats said they found the tape in a camera case when they moved into Opposition offices after Mr. Wall's Saskatchewan Party won last fall's provincial election.
Mr. Lukiwski was a Tory organizer at the time the tape was made and Mr. Wall was a ministerial aide.
Ms. Atkinson said the pair is heard on tape ridiculing Roy Romanow, who defeated the provincial Tories in the 1991 election. “They're done in the context of Mr. Romanow and his descent, his ethnic background,†Ms. Atkinson said.
“I would say that he [Mr. Wall] is using an immigrant accent of some kind and he is referring in the end to Mr. Romanow ... There are those of us who grew up at a time when, in the province of Saskatchewan, negative things were said about people of Eastern European background and they were hurtful things,†she added.
Ms. Atkinson also said there were inappropriate remarks about the gender of the provincial Liberal leader at the time, Lynda Haverstock.
Mr. Lukiwski was a long-time insider in the provincial Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party before his election in 2004 in the riding of Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre. He won the seat by 122 votes and was re-elected in 2006 with 42 per cent of the vote.
The incumbent, Larry Spencer, was a member of the Canadian Alliance caucus but was dropped by the party after he told a reporter in 2003 that homosexuality should be outlawed and that a conspiracy is responsible for the successes of the gay rights movement.
When the new Conservative party was formed by the merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties, Mr. Spencer was banned from running for the Tories. The party justified its decision by saying people across the country don't accept intolerance.
Mr. Spencer ran as an Independent and garnered less than five per cent of the vote.
Mr. Lukiwski was a small-business owner who served as executive director of the Saskatchewan PC Party from 1995 to 1997. He went on to become the general manager of the Saskatchewan Party, founded in 1997 by former Saskatchewan Liberals and Progressive Conservative party members.
Mr. Lukiwski is married and has two children.
Mr. Wall, 42, was elected premier of Saskatchewan last fall but has been involved in politics for more than two decades. He first served as a ministerial assistant in the final years of Grant Devine's Progressive Conservative government in Saskatchewan.
In 1991, Mr. Wall ran for the Conservative nomination in his hometown of Swift Current and was defeated. He later worked as Swift Current's director of business development before successfully running for the Saskatchewan Party in 1999. He became leader of the party in 2004.
BRODIE FENLON AND JENNIFER MACMILLAN
Globe and Mail Update and Canadian Press
April 3, 2008 at 4:45 PM EDT
Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski apologized Thursday after the Saskatchewan NDP released a 16-year-old videotape featuring him and Premier Brad Wall that contains sexist, racist and homophobic comments.
In particular, the NDP said Mr. Lukiwski made “hateful†remarks on the 1991 tape shot at Conservative Party headquarters following a leader's debate, while Mr. Wall reportedly made inappropriate ethnic comments.
Those comments include a homophobic diatribe by Mr. Lukiwski, said NDP MP Bill Siksay, who repeated them Thursday during Question Period.
Mr. Siksay told the House of Commons that Mr. Lukiwski “allegedly states on the tape, ‘Let me put it to you this way. There's A's and B's. The A's are guys like me. The B's are homosexual faggots with dirt in their fingernails that transmit diseases.' â€
Mr. Lukiwski, 57, quickly apologized for the remarks, which he said don't represent his true views.
“I am truly, truly sorry. I'm ashamed [of] the comments. If I could take those comments back, I would. I would give anything in the world to take those comments back,†he said.
“I have no prejudice against gay people whatsoever. Those comments do not reflect the type of person I am.â€
Mr. Lukiwski did not address questions about his future and whether he will step down over the matter.
“Why would you videotape this, why would you keep it and why would you leave it behind?†Saskatchewan NDP deputy leader Pat Atkinson said at a press conference.
“We decided that given Mr. Lukiwski's comments – he's a member of Parliament representing the people of our province in Ottawa – that the comments were so troubling and so disturbing that people needed to know what he had said,†she said.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan said he was unfamiliar with the videotape but would take the matter seriously.
“The comments do sound distressing and inappropriate and they will have due attention,†Mr. Van Loan said.
A spokeswoman at Mr. Wall's office told globeandmail.com the Premier was not able to respond immediately to the allegations.
"We're just now reviewing the tape," said Bonny Braden. "We just got a copy a few minutes ago."
The New Democrats said they found the tape in a camera case when they moved into Opposition offices after Mr. Wall's Saskatchewan Party won last fall's provincial election.
Mr. Lukiwski was a Tory organizer at the time the tape was made and Mr. Wall was a ministerial aide.
Ms. Atkinson said the pair is heard on tape ridiculing Roy Romanow, who defeated the provincial Tories in the 1991 election. “They're done in the context of Mr. Romanow and his descent, his ethnic background,†Ms. Atkinson said.
“I would say that he [Mr. Wall] is using an immigrant accent of some kind and he is referring in the end to Mr. Romanow ... There are those of us who grew up at a time when, in the province of Saskatchewan, negative things were said about people of Eastern European background and they were hurtful things,†she added.
Ms. Atkinson also said there were inappropriate remarks about the gender of the provincial Liberal leader at the time, Lynda Haverstock.
Mr. Lukiwski was a long-time insider in the provincial Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party before his election in 2004 in the riding of Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre. He won the seat by 122 votes and was re-elected in 2006 with 42 per cent of the vote.
The incumbent, Larry Spencer, was a member of the Canadian Alliance caucus but was dropped by the party after he told a reporter in 2003 that homosexuality should be outlawed and that a conspiracy is responsible for the successes of the gay rights movement.
When the new Conservative party was formed by the merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties, Mr. Spencer was banned from running for the Tories. The party justified its decision by saying people across the country don't accept intolerance.
Mr. Spencer ran as an Independent and garnered less than five per cent of the vote.
Mr. Lukiwski was a small-business owner who served as executive director of the Saskatchewan PC Party from 1995 to 1997. He went on to become the general manager of the Saskatchewan Party, founded in 1997 by former Saskatchewan Liberals and Progressive Conservative party members.
Mr. Lukiwski is married and has two children.
Mr. Wall, 42, was elected premier of Saskatchewan last fall but has been involved in politics for more than two decades. He first served as a ministerial assistant in the final years of Grant Devine's Progressive Conservative government in Saskatchewan.
In 1991, Mr. Wall ran for the Conservative nomination in his hometown of Swift Current and was defeated. He later worked as Swift Current's director of business development before successfully running for the Saskatchewan Party in 1999. He became leader of the party in 2004.
