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Canada  

'Little girl' comments sting

An independent Ontario politician who left the Progressive Conservative caucus over cuts to francophone services is criticizing former prime minister Brian Mulroney for referring to her as a "little girl."

Mulroney appeared Sunday night on Radio Canada's "Tout le monde en parle," and defended his daughter Caroline Mulroney, Ontario's attorney general and francophone affairs minister.

He said his daughter is the best voice that Ontario francophones could ever have, and without naming Amanda Simard, said, "the little girl who resigned, she has left."

Simard says on Twitter today that Brian Mulroney has done great things for Canada, but his comments "belong to another era and have no place in a respectful and egalitarian society."

Simard left the Tory caucus in the wake of the government's decision to eliminate the independent office of the French-language services commissioner and scrap a planned French-language university.

She was elected last year at the age of 29 to represent the largely French-speaking eastern Ontario riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.



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