Whitney Issik, the environment and parks minister, twice told reporters to stop asking her questions about the controversy. She is the first UCP minister to make herself available to reporters since the story broke earlier in the week. “A mistake was made and a mistake was made, and they apologized for it,” Issik said. “I think that should be our last question on this matter.” But the inquiries kept coming for the third-place winner of the ‘Her Vision Inspires’ competition, particularly how the government could award such words and whether anyone would be demoted because of it. The essay written by S. Silver has been called sexist and racist because he stated that “women are not exactly equal to men”. He also asked women to have more children because we should not “bring in foreigners to replace ourselves”. “Personally, I do not hold any of the beliefs expressed in this essay,” Issik said. On Tuesday, the deputy minister for the status of women, Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, apologized for the award, but neither she nor Prime Minister Jason Kenney have been made available for questions. Instead, Issik wanted reporters to ask her about an economic development initiative she was announcing on the outskirts of Edmonton, but none came until a government official went to the microphone to ask her. When the essay contest began, Issik was deputy minister for the Status of Women, but she said she didn’t know what any of the submissions said until the controversy erupted on Tuesday. Issik was asked whether or not Armstrong-Homeniuk and fellow MLA and pageant judge Jackie Lovely should resign. “The two women, Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk and Jackie Lovely, both unequivocally said it was wrong and apologized, and to me, that’s the end of it,” Issik said.
“READY QUESTIONS ARE BEING ASKED”
Meanwhile, a pair of political scientists agreed Friday that there were unanswered questions. They also agreed that the government did not handle the situation well. “They have not taken responsibility. In a case like this, you want to put distance between the government and the decision that was made, then the (associate) minister should resign,” said Laurie Williams of Mount Royal University. “It’s expected that the government will try to brush it aside or focus on something else. But there are legitimate questions about a government deciding to give an award to someone who has written an essay that contains very sexist and racist comments.” Williams called the UCP’s response to the outrage a “failure to communicate” for not making those responsible available to reporters. Political scientist Lisa Young agreed, saying the government is “extending the pain” of a mistake by simply emailing an apology and hoping to move on. “If the government is committed to women’s equality then perhaps the prime minister would remove (Armstrong-Homeniuk) from that role, but he has made it clear that he is not going to do that. So we are left with this situation,” he said. Young added that the government did not immediately release details about who judged the contest and how many entries there were, which she believes also angered people. “The government can’t just pick and choose the questions it wants to answer,” Young said. “The government should expect journalists to do their job, which is to try to understand what happened.” Issik suggested Friday that reporters ask Speaker Nathan Cooper questions, but in a statement to CTV News Edmonton he pointed out that his office publishes the awards but does not judge them. He called the essay “disgusting” and said he had removed it from a government website. With files by Chelan Skulski of CTV News Edmonton
