It’s one thing to declare yourself a role model; it’s another to be worthy of the title The community Manitoba’s health minister claims to represent deserves better than arrogant obfuscation By: Tom Brodbeck Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 21, 2023

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This article was published 21/04/2023 (917 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon says she wants to be a role model for young people.

Presumably, she wants to be a good role model, someone who tells the truth, acknowledges wrongdoing and apologizes when she crosses the line. Sadly, that’s not what the minister demonstrated this week when she refused to confirm or deny whether she accused an Opposition MLA of bribing nurses to quit their jobs at Health Sciences Centre.

Gordon and the Tory government were facing criticism last month over the resignation of seven nurses from HSC’s sexual assault nurse examiner program.

During the heat of debate, NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara said Gordon blurted out: “How much did you pay the nurses to resign?”

The alleged accusation was not just a snarky comment, the kind MLAs often hurl at each other across the chamber floor. It was a vicious charge and a serious attack on nurses, especially coming from a minster of the Crown.

Asagwara raised the issue as a matter of privilege in the house. On Wednesday, Speaker Myrna Driedger ruled on it. As expected, she said because Gordon’s alleged comment was not recorded in Hansard — the official verbatim transcript of the debates of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and its committees — it could not be confirmed. It doesn’t mean she didn’t say it, Driedger ruled. But because it’s not in Hansard, there is no matter of privilege.

“Sadly, we are reaching a place where there is a loss of public confidence in governments at all levels, and in democratic institutions,” Driedger said in her ruling. “We must be more vigilant and aware that some of the actions taken in this House may be viewed in the eyes of the watching public as going too far, which can tarnish the image of our institution and the esteem by which we are all held.”

Tempers often flare in the chamber. MLAs sometimes say things from their seats, when their microphones are turned off, they later regret.

Even if it is not recorded in Hansard, they are responsible for their words. When they cross the line, they usually apologize, sometimes directly to the offended party.

That’s what it means to be a good role model: to rise above the fray, to maintain civility and decorum and in this case, to show respect for front-line health-care workers.

Gordon was asked five times by journalists Wednesday, following Driedger’s ruling, if she said what Asagwara alleged. It was an opportunity for the minister to be the role model she says she wants to be.

Instead, she refused to answer. Gordon would neither confirm nor deny if she accused opposition members of bribing nurses.

“I’m not going to spend time in smear campaigns, I’m going to focus on the needs of Manitobans,” she said.

Making unfounded allegations of bribery is a smear. The minister was asked point-blank to confirm or deny whether she made the comment and she refused to say. The only reasonable conclusion is that she did make the accusation and doesn’t want to lie by denying it. So she evades instead.

“There’s a lot that is said during heckling and you know it’s just a reminder to all of us that Manitobans are watching, sometimes we have students in the gallery and we need to set a really good example,” said Gordon. “So I take that to heart.”

No she doesn’t. If she did, she would acknowledge that the partisan heckling got the better of her that day, that she said something in the heat of the moment she now regrets and wants to apologize for it.

Instead, she continued to obfuscate.

“I’m elected by the people in my constituency and I am going to set a really good example for young people and to be a role model for my community, which is the black community,” said Gordon.

Refusing to apologize for a malicious accusation, or at least correcting the record and confirming it was never said, is not, by any definition, an example of a good role model. It reinforces pettiness and vindictiveness.

Refusing to apologize for a malicious accusation, or at least correcting the record and confirming it was never said, is not, by any definition, an example of a good role model. It reinforces pettiness and vindictiveness.

When Gordon was asked a fourth time by a third journalist to clarify whether she denied saying what was alleged, she repeated: “What I am saying is that Hansard is the official record of discussions that are held in the chamber and Hansard shows that I did not speak that morning.”

She was reminded that Hansard picks up only a small amount of what is said in the chamber and that members say many things that are not recorded in the official record. When she was asked a fifth time to confirm or deny, Gordon walked away, as she often does when she doesn’t like the questions.

It’s probably not the kind of role model most people are looking for.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck
Columnist

Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.

Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.