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Canwest News Service
Conservative Gerald Keddy apologized Tuesday for disparaging comments he made about out-of-work Nova Scotians in a Halifax newspaper, amid demands that he resign from his post as parliamentary secretary.
“It’s this type of attitude that cannot be accepted by anybody in government,” said New Democratic Party MP Peter Stoffer. “An apology is important but mostly importantly he needs to understand . . . these kinds of remarks are unacceptable.”
In an interview published Tuesday in the Chronicle-Herald, Keddy, a Nova Scotia MP, called unemployed citizens “no-good bastards” who sit on the sidewalk instead of getting work.
Keddy had been asked by a reporter whether he was employing migrant workers on the Christmas tree farm he runs with his family.
He told the paper he had not hired migrants but wouldn’t criticize others for hiring them because “Nova Scotians won’t do it.”
“I would like to offer a sincere apology for remarks I made regarding the unemployed in Halifax,” said Keddy said in a written statement. “In no way did I mean to offend those who have lost their job due to the global recession, nor did I mean to suggest that anyone who is unemployed is not actively looking for employment.”
Keddy reiterated his apology during question period in the House of Commons.
Keddy, who is married to Judy Streatch, the former Nova Scotia minister of community services, should know better, said Stoffer, a New Brunswick MP.
“There has to be severe reprimand for this particular issue. I encourage the prime minister to suspend his parliamentary privileges and remove him from that post,” he said.
Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the motion moved by then-NDP leader Ed Broadbent to eliminate child poverty, Stoffer said.
Rick Clark, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, also called for Keddy’s resignation.
Nova Scotia Liberal MP Michael Savage, the party’s human resources critic, called Keddy’s comments “appalling.”
“Many of these people are struggling with mental health issues and addictions,” he said. “They don’t need to be insulted. They need a little bit of assistance.”
Approximately 52,000 residents of the Halifax region live below the poverty level, said Mayor Peter J. Kelly, adding that he found Keddy’s comments inappropriate.
“He represents part of the (Halifax Regional Municipality) and we expect him to stand up for us, not tear us down. In these economic times, with people who have lost their jobs, I don’t think it’s an appropriate manner to approach it. They should be trying to help us find the jobs and offer the jobs, rather than degrade and demoralize these individuals.”
Federal funding for social housing is not permanent, Kelly said, so it is difficult for municipalities to create long-term solutions for the homeless and unemployed.
“If they want to help us address the issue, then we certainly would strongly urge the federal government to consider the need for predictable and sustainable funding for social housing,” he said.
Kelly said he appreciated Keddy’s apology and extended an invitation to the MP to come to Halifax and work together on the issue.
Statistics Canada reported a 9.3 per cent unemployment rate for Nova Scotia in the month of October.
A 2008 report card on homelessness in Halifax produced by a community group counted 1,252 homeless people in the city, according to data collected by shelters.
The number is likely much higher, said John Hartling, director of community initiatives for the group Community Action on Homelessness.
“With (Keddy’s) remarks, we find it quite offensive for any member of Parliament to speak that way about people who are poor in our community,” Hartling said.
In his written apology, Keddy said that many small businesses in Nova Scotia rely on foreign workers due to labour shortages, without whom, many would suffer.
Christmas tree growers from Lunenburg County near Halifax said Keddy is right about labour shortages.
Approximately 35 migrant workers arrive each year from Mexico and Jamaica to help out on farms, said Matthew Wright, from the Christmas Tree Council of Nova Scotia.
“There would be two or three operations that, without (the migrant workers), they would maybe be forced to close,” he said. “It would be very difficult to operate them without those people.”
