NDP candidate Bowinn Ma, who was sexualized in a retirement roast tribute gone wrong by Liberal candidate Jane Thornthwaite, worries about the message “casual sexism” sends to women considering a career in politics.
“This is not about me,” said Ma at an event in her North Vancouver riding on Monday. “If we want more young women and people of colour to run for politics, we need to be creating an environment to attract them. These comments did the exact opposite.”
Thornthwaite is being criticized following a series of sexualized comments
made online about Ma. The comments, made during a Sept. 17 virtual roast of former B.C. Liberal MLA Ralph Sultan, were screen recorded and later shared with Mo Amir, a Vancouver podcast host. Amir posted the two-minute clip to his Twitter on Saturday evening and asked women to chime in with their thoughts.
In the clip — which included B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson — Thornthwaite is heard sharing a story about Ma and Sultan’s interactions, implying flirtatious behaviour between the two.
“Bowinn is a very pretty lady, she knows she’s got it, and she knows how to get Ralph going,” says Thornthwaite to laughs from the other participants. She then goes on to describe an event where Ma and Sultan were “stuck on the couch together — very, very close together — for almost the entire time.”
In response, Sultan groaned, prompting Thornthwaite to say, “Yes, Ralph. You remember that. We were supposed to be networking and all this — but Bowinn knows how to get you. She knows how to get you.
“Ralph would be sitting on one couch, say, the middle of the couch and Bowinn would be right up next to him, cuddling, cuddling, cuddling — a little cleavage there — and Ralph would be enthralled with her,” said Thornthwaite, as other participants chuckled.
Thornthwaite eventually apologized on Twitter to Ma for her comments.
Wilkinson tweeted that “those comments were inappropriate and it was right for Jane to apologize.”
But Ma on Monday said, “Andrew Wilkinson has a lot to answer for” because the comments reflect a “pattern of behaviour that Andrew Wilkinson has personally endorsed by allowing it to carry on.”
Ma said Thornthwaite left her a voicemail but she wasn’t ready to listen to it. Ma said she had not received any other calls or messages from any other Liberal.
“I was disappointed,” said NDP Leader John Horgan at another event on Monday. “It’s not OK to joke about sexism, racism, and intolerance. It’s appropriate for leaders to step up and call that type of behaviour out.”
“I certainly hope that I would have done that in the same circumstance,” said Horgan. “Having said that, I’m a flawed individual, I’m imperfect and I try and learn every day and I believe this is a teachable moment for all of us.”
Liberal supporters on Twitter brought up a radio debate in the 2017 campaign, during which Horgan took “sharp personal digs” at former Liberal Premier Christy Clark, according to then Province columnist Mike Smyth.
“At one point, frustrated with Clark interrupting him, Horgan said to her: “If you want to just keep doing your thing, I will watch you for a while; I know you like that,” Smyth wrote.
“He later explained this creepy comment by saying Clark is a ‘photo-op premier’ who loves attention,” Smyth wrote.
