Catherine McKenna won't discuss her department's failures — and please stop asking sexist questions!

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I went to an announcement yesterday in Toronto hosted by Minister of Infrastructure Catherine McKenna. She was making another spending announcement, which came on the heels of her declaration that she will not be running for re-election, and will be retiring from politics.

It’s a pretty strange move for a relatively young politician, but according to McKenna in a statement she released this week, she has “done what she got into politics to do” and therefore does not need to continue her political career.

I found it interesting that McKenna would feel so accomplished after her demotion from Environment Minister to the lesser role of Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. It’s also worth noting that her retirement announcement came just months after her own admission that she had to “do a better job.” This was in response to the March 25 auditor's report that came out blasting McKenna’s department for incomplete reporting of billions of tax dollars. The report also noted that the $188 billion spending plans are lagging behind.

I wanted to ask McKenna what happened to the 9,000 separate projects that were not properly documented, and what would be different about this new project. Maybe the answer would simply be that she won’t be running it, but I wanted to get her comment on this issue critical to the taxpayers of Canada.

Based on previous interactions Rebel News has had with McKenna, I wasn’t expecting a warm greeting, and was prepared for her classic deflection of “you’re harassing me because I’m a woman.” And guess what, she did not surprise.

The event ended, and they weren’t going to take any questions, so we caught up with her afterwards. She was immediately dismissive and rude, telling me she couldn’t answer any questions because she had to get the airport. That’s right, the fossil fuel-hating climate specialist had a flight to catch.

I wasn’t being aggressive, and just wanted some answers to important questions. It is her job after all, as a public servant, to provide transparency and accountability. She continued to ignore me, until she just couldn’t stop herself from her own narcissism. She wanted to know when our organization was going to stop calling her “Climate Barbie,” which is her delightful nickname coined by Chief Reporter Sheila Gunn Reid. It’s the silliest response to a hard question, and an obvious deflection. It seems like she’s more interested in talking about herself than taking any accountability for the failures of her department.

My criticisms of McKenna aren’t based on the fact that she’s a woman, or the colour of her hair. It’s that she’s wasted billions of dollars and doesn’t have the courage or even the sense of responsibility to answer questions about it.

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