Contrary to his earlier denial, the leader of Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives made dehumanizing remarks targeting the gender of non-binary Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara during an exchange at the legislature last month, Manitoba’s Speaker has ruled.
After reviewing audio of the March 17 remarks, Speaker of the House Tom Lindsey determined Opposition leader Obby Khan made the remark to Asagwara, the first non-binary MLA elected in Manitoba history.
“On this recording, I can clearly hear the leader of the Opposition say, ‘You are a terrible person, whatever you are,'” Lindsey said after question period Tuesday.
“I was shocked and appalled to hear such a dehumanizing comment had in fact been made in this chamber,” Lindsey said.
“There have been a lot of hurtful, disrespectful things said in this chamber in my time as Speaker, and I truly wish that those comments and this comment had never been heard in this room.”
He said he would make the audio recording he reviewed available. The Manitoba Legislative Assembly did soon after.
WATCH | Audio clip reveals Tory leader targeted non-binary health minister, Speaker says:
Audio reveals Manitoba PC leader targeted non-binary MLA: Speaker
House Speaker Tom Lindsey reviewed this audio clip of a heated March 17 exchange between New Democrats and Tories in the Manitoba Legislature. On April 7, he ruled Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan can be heard saying “whatever you are” to Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who is non-binary.
Lindsey’s ruling comes three weeks after Premier Wab Kinew, NDP House Leader Nahanni Fontaine and Asagwara all claimed Khan made the comments toward the health minister.
Fontaine asked Lindsey for a review, calling the comments transphobic, bigoted and a threat.
On Tuesday, Fontaine called on Khan to apologize to Asagwara “for his dehumanizing language against an individual and Manitobans, like the minister of health, who are already attacked on a daily basis, including by himself during the 2023 election.”
During the 2023 election campaign, Khan was the face of billboard ads promoting parental rights, which Fontaine previously said targeted gender-nonconforming and transgender children.
When asked by media during a scrum after question period that day in March whether he made the “whatever you are” comment, Khan suggested it was loud in the chamber and many things were said in the heat of the moment.
‘Not what I stand for’: Khan
The following day, Khan admitted to calling Asagwara a terrible person and apologized, but suggested the other half of the remark was misconstrued.
“I did say, ‘You are a terrible person.’ I followed that up by saying, ‘Whatever you are saying, say it outside,'” Khan told media on March 18.
Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan, right, takes questions in a media scrum after the remarks made on March 17 toward Health Minister Asagwara. NDP House Leader Nahanni Fontaine, left, attended Khan’s scrum, something rare for members of opposing parties to do. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)
On Tuesday during question period, he apologized for the “whatever you are” part of his remarks raised in the Speaker’s ruling.
“As a leader of this party and the members of the side House, [I] can stand and recognize when I make a mistake,” Khan said.
“I apologize to the deputy health minister, apologize to members opposite, to everyone in the chamber and all Manitobans for those words.”
Khan said he looked forward to “listening to the full audio” that Lindsey reviewed, “but if that’s the interpretation of the Speaker, I apologize for that. I apologize for any harm those comments may have made.”
After question period Tuesday, Khan said the audio clip in question only captures a fragment of the heckling during a “very chaotic, broader exchange” between New Democrats and Tories on March 17.
He said he did not make any remarks “intended to target or demean the minister or anyone else based on their background, identity or role.”
“This is not who I am. It is not what I stand for,” said Khan.
He apologized in the chamber on Tuesday in the event that “comments from this fragment of a sentence … have hurt and caused anyone any harm. Not my intent at all,” he said.
“I would not and I did not attack Minister Asagwara on the basis of their gender identity or anything else other than their failures in the health-care departments.”
‘Disgusting and dehumanizing’: Asagwara
Lindsey said while he found Khan’s comments shocking, he would not rule they amounted to a threat, due to the nature of parliamentary privilege that shields some speech made by MLAs in the chamber.
“Based on past precedents, and after much consultation with other jurisdictions, I find, much to my disappointment, that I cannot rule those hateful words as a threat,” Lindsey said.
“That privilege is essential for the effective functioning of this House. However, the misuse or abuse of this privilege can and does create significant problems in this House.”
Asagwara speaks to reporters on March 18. On Tuesday, the health minister said Khan’s remarks last month made some Manitobans ‘feel a little less safe.’ (Bryce Hoye/CBC)
After Lindsey’s ruling, Asagwara addressed the Speaker’s findings in the chamber.
They suggested Manitobans in the 2SLGBTQ+ were “deeply and personally affected by his hateful and dehumanizing remarks” that made some Manitobans “feel a little less safe.”
“Manitobans, and particularly young Manitobans, I hope that you see that … in a place as esteemed as this chamber, there can be a result that condemns such hateful and dehumanizing actions,” they said.
“I hope that you can see that no matter what space you take up anywhere in our province, you deserve to be respected” and treated with “common decency,” they said.
During a scrum outside the chamber, Asagwara said Khan is unfit to be an elected official.
“I wasn’t protected as a Manitoban in that place,” they said.
“Someone could look at me across the aisle and levy a statement against me that was not only disgusting and dehumanizing … derogatory and transphobic … it was in fact dangerous.”
Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Manitoba, said heckling has long been part of question period but many legislatures are undergoing “deterioration of decorum and civil proceedings” amid a time of widespread political polarization.
“It’s gotten worse and worse as I’ve observed it over more than 50 years,” he said.
“There are more and more episodes where the Speaker tries to rein in members and he can’t curtail the hostilities that are going on within the legislature. And I put a lot of the blame at the top of the leadership of the parties, particularly the party leaders and the House leaders on both sides of the legislature. They do a lot to set the tone.”
WATCH | Manitoba Legislature Speaker intervenes amid NDP, Tory heckling (March 17):
Manitoba Legislature Speaker intervenes amid NDP, Tory heckling
Speaker of the House Tom Lindsey intervened Tuesday as tensions rose between the governing NDP and Opposition Progressive Conservatives during question period. The NDP claim PC Leader Obby Khan made a derogatory comment about the gender of Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara. Khan disputes that and claims NDP members called him a bigot.