Tepid apology attempts to implicate Mulcair.
by Ish Theilheimer and Samantha Bayard
OTTAWA, December 6, 2012 (Straight Goods News) — A lowlight of the week in Parliament was Conservative House Leader Peter van Loan charging across the aisle Wednesday, cursing at, and trying to provoke a fight with NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen over a point of order over voting on the omnibus budget legislation.
Today, Van Loan offered the House a tepid apology.
"I acknowledge that I used an inappropriate word when I was discussing this matter with the opposition House leader," Van Loan told the House. "I should not have done that and I apologize for that."
In the next breath, however, Van Loan attempted to start another fight, implicating NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his brawl. "I would expect the Leader of the Opposition to do the same," he said.
NDP MP Paul Dewar (Ottawa-Centre), who went in to split up the conflict, told reporters today, "It was very simple. Mr. Van Loan was saying some things at his desk and then he started across the aisle and he was looking very aggressive and he was wagging his finger and continued to say some very aggressive things and threats. That [behaviour] was unprompted and unbecoming any member of the House — let alone a House Leader — he continued to do that. I saw him coming across. I could see in his face that he was very upset and in a very aggressive kind of mode and so I’ve seen that before in men and I know it’s the best thing to do is to get people away from each other and that’s what I did."
Paul Dewar describes Peter Van Loan's charging incident and apology. 
"In terms of his apology, frankly, I think it’s unbecoming a minister or a House Leader," Dewar said. "And I’m not — I’m not sure if I was the Prime Minister I’d still have him as a House Leader. I don’t know how you can have your House Leader, you know, after a point of order is made, behave like that. And that was entirely something he did. No one else did anything. No one said a word to him. It was totally unprompted. He did it all by himself. So the only person who should be apologizing and maybe taking a timeout for a while is Minister Van Loan, no one else."
About Ish Theilheimer and Samantha Bayard
Ish Theilheimer is founder and publisher of SG News and lives in Golden Lake, ON. Samantha Bayard is an Ottawa reporter and an editorial and administrative assistant at SGNews.
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