Sen. Lynn Beyak denies that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer asked her to remove letters from her Senate website supporting her view on the residential school system before kicking her out of caucus.
The senator, who’s now an Independent, said she found out about her removal in Scheer’s media statement sent late Thursday.
In it, Scheer said he demanded Beyak remove some of the comments, but she refused. Scheer’s spokesperson, Jake Enwright, said the conversation took place over the phone.
“Contrary to his statement, that he asked me to remove content and I refused, neither I nor my staff ever spoke with Andrew Scheer or anyone from his office, at any time,” said Beyak in a statement Monday.
Talking points sent to staff said that: “Beyak admitted that she intentionally posted racist correspondence about Indigenous Canadians to her parliamentary website,” something the Ontario senator also denies.
Beyak said her website offered a space for free speech.
‘Inexperienced leader’
She then turned her response on the media and Scheer, accusing him of falling for a ploy.
“Isn’t it interesting that when the media should be focused on Justin Trudeau’s ethics violations and Joshua Boyle’s alleged ties to the taxpayer-compensated Khadr family, that old letters, on the website for months without controversy, are used to bait opposition leadership,” she said.
“A good leader would never have fallen for such a ploy, but when an inexperienced leader wins by a small margin, and does not adequately consider other viewpoints, some wisdom and common sense are lost.”
Beyak was referring to the December report from the federal ethics watchdog that found Trudeau violated some provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act when he vacationed on a private island owned by the Aga Khan in late 2016.
(Former hostage Joshua Boyle, who was previously married to Omar Khadr’s sister, was arrested and charged with more than a dozen criminal offences less than two weeks after he met with Trudeau.)
“We deserve better leadership other than the current choices, who are mired in, or hampered by, political correctness,” said Beyak.
She said she will continue to defend free speech as a senator.
Beyak rose to notoriety in the spring of 2017 after saying there were positives that came out of Canada’s residential school system.