Canada

'Barbie' remark has NDP leader in hot water

The Advisory Council on the Status of Women wants NDP Leader Elizabeth Weir to set a better example. Weir has compared Transporation Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney to a Barbie doll.

Weir wasn't happy this week with the answers she was getting from Blaney during Question Period and said, "This isn't Barbie goes to the legislature."

Noella Richard, spokesperson for the Advisory Council, says a better choice of words should have been used. "We all understand the Opposition's role is to in part criticize government and by extension that includes cabinet ministers but references to someone's physical attributes, that's close to a line and it's probably best not to cross it," she says.

Richard says the Advisory Council wants other MLAs to ask the NDP leader for an apology.