-- OTTAWA -- Conservatives and Liberals duelled today for the favour of women voters but it was the NDP that fired the most sensational shot.Turns out it was a picture of his girlfriend.
However, it eventually turned out that Irene Mathyssen, a New Democrat MP from London, Ont., was firing blanks.
Mathyssen stunned all sides by complaining that she'd seen Tory MP James Moore checking out a "scantily clad" woman on his laptop computer in Parliament.
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WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS:
The politician who appeared the least eager to jump on the bandwagon was NDP Leader Jack Layton, even though the issue had been discussed and backed by the party's caucus.Oh, c'mon, Irene... everybody needs friends.
"It's her responsibility to raise this in the House if she sees something that concerns her."
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UPDATE: Conservative MP Moore compared to killer?
Hey, Irene... you know a good lawyer?
MPs are protected from legal action for anything that they say in the House based on the principle of parliamentary privilege. But Mathyssen repeated her allegations against Moore outside of the House to reporters.**********
Speaking to reporters, the image of the scantily clad woman she had described to her fellow MPs turned into "soft porn, Playboy-type stuff."
"I have very good vision. I know what I saw," she said.
Noting government cuts to a number of women's programs, Mathyssen said that Moore's actions added to the impression that the Conservative government is no friend of women.
It was even worse, she said, that it was coming up to the 18th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, in which a lone gunman killed 14 women at a city college.
LAST WORD: Two faced Double Dipper
CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife cited a report in Friday's online version of the London Free Press, in which Mathyssen vowed to stand by her claims. The MP told the paper she would only apologize for failing to speak to Moore before raising the issue in the House, not for making the accusation.
Fife said it's clear Mathyssen's party pressured her to offer up a full apology.
"She will probably have to explain to her local newspaper why she said one thing to them and another thing in the House of Commons," Fife told CTV Newsnet.
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