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By Canadian Press

Ontario politician criticizes former PM for referring to her as a ‘little girl’

Mar 18, 2019 | 9:41 AM

TORONTO — An independent Ontario politician who left the Progressive Conservative caucus over cuts to francophone services is criticizing former prime minister Brian Mulroney for referring to her as a “little girl.”

Mulroney appeared Sunday night on Radio Canada’s “Tout le monde en parle,” and defended his daughter Caroline Mulroney, Ontario’s attorney general and francophone affairs minister.

“She is the best voice that Ontario francophones could ever have, believe me,” the former prime minister said in French. “The little girl who resigned, she has left. That’s over. But Caroline is still there to defend the interests of Ontario francophones.”

Simard addressed the comments Monday on Twitter, writing that Brian Mulroney was attempting to defend his daughter, who “completely abandoned Franco-Ontarians.”

“He has done great things for Canada, but his comments belong to another era and have no place in a respectful and egalitarian society,” Simard wrote. 

Simard was elected last year at the age of 29 to represent the largely French-speaking eastern Ontario riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.

She left the Tory caucus in the wake of the government’s decision to eliminate the independent office of the French-language services commissioner and scrap a planned French-language university.

After an outcry from Franco-Ontarians, the government announced it would create a commissioner position within the office of the provincial ombudsman, establish a Ministry of Francophone Affairs and hire a senior policy adviser on francophone affairs in the premier’s office. But Simard said she was not satisfied by the “partial backtracking” on the cuts.

Premier Doug Ford has said the measures regarding the commissioner and the university were necessary to bring down the province’s deficit, although he has not said how much would be saved.

Brian Mulroney told “Tout le monde en parle” that Ford was elected to trim the deficit and debt.

“So it took cuts, changes of attitude, etcetera, and everyone was affected, including the Franco-Ontarians,” he said. “But it has been barely a year that Caroline is there. You are going to see with time how well she works with her colleagues to mend fences and to rebuild confidence between Ontario’s French minority and the Ford government.”

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press