Veteran’s wife calls Veterans Affairs minister insenitive

How many political lives does Kent Hehr have?

The Liberal cabinet minister’s empathy tank has run dry and he has become a liability, Tim Harper writes

By TIM HARPER --- National Affairs Columnist
Wed., Dec. 13, 2017

For weeks, the opposition Conservatives have been aiming high, trying to take down a sitting finance minister.

It won’t work. The Conservatives may be scoring points in the Commons, if not byelections, but Bill Morneau isn’t going anywhere.

While it is natural to go hunting for the big game, the Conservatives should aim a little lower because one has to wonder how many lives Kent Hehr could possibly have left.

The minister for sports and people with disabilities is becoming the Trudeau government’s chief victim-blamer.

We often call for more candour in politicians, but no one calls for less empathy.

Three times this month Hehr has been accused of insensitivity when dealing with those seeking action from his government, ranging from thalidomide victims to a woman whose war veteran husband is suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

This week Hehr faced allegations from a Nova Scotia woman who met with him in 2016.

He clearly has a history with Kim Davis. He blocked her from his official Facebook page and Davis is an activist who is not shy when it comes to holding politicians to account.

Davis said she pressed Hehr when he was minister of veterans affairs in 2016 about extending benefits to family members. She had to quit her job to look after her husband and she was worried about paying for her children’s education.

The alleged response from the minister without empathy? A lot of kids don’t have their education paid for, so why should hers?

When pressed about her husband’s condition, Davis said Hehr responded: “You married him. It’s your responsibility.’’

It is important to note Hehr denied the story, calling the meeting with Davis “cordial” even as his boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the Commons Tuesday to mistakenly tell opposition leader Andrew Scheer that Hehr had apologized.

Trudeau later corrected the record, but perhaps he was just losing track since Hehr had apologized for two previous transgressions.

He has been accused of telling thalidomide victims that “everyone has a sob story.’’

When Jennifer McCrea, a Calgary woman who is fighting on behalf of mothers who say they were denied benefits while on maternity leave asked why the government was fighting sick women, she said the minister replied it was a “loaded question,’’ adding: “Well, Ms. McCrea, that is the old question, like asking . . . When did you stop beating your wife?”

According to McCrea, Hehr managed to do all this in a two-minute meeting which indicates the minister starts in combat mode, he is not goaded into making inappropriate comments.

It cannot be lost on Trudeau, the country’s feminist prime minister, that all three instances cited are cases of Hehr putting down women or being overly combative with them.

No prime minister relishes standing in the Commons defending ministers bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. No government will want these charges hanging over its head, certainly not in the political climate of late 2017.

Hehr has suggested some remarks have been misconstrued, but he has admitted to sometimes being brash and inappropriate and he has to work on getting better.

He admits he needs improvement in “personal interactions,’’ and is taking steps to better himself as a representative of Calgary and Canada.

A cabinet minister who says he needs to get better at dealing with people is problematic. Put him first in veterans affairs then move him to deal with people with disabilities, people who are all hurting, physically or mentally, and it becomes combustible.

The Conservatives have not been aggressive in going after Hehr — at least not by Morneau standards.

Trudeau gave Hehr a ringing endorsement Wednesday. Such endorsements are often not worth the bandwidth needed to publish it in Hansard. Wait a couple weeks.

Hehr’s lack of empathy brings to mind the shambolic tenure in veterans affairs of Julian Fantino in Stephen Harper’s government. The former top cop turned marijuana entrepreneur was another minister whose empathy tank had run dry.

He infamously dressed down elderly war veterans and walked away from the wife of a veteran who wanted to talk to him.

When Parliament rose for the Christmas break in 2014, Harper professed confidence in Fantino.

On Jan. 5, 2015 he quietly shuffled him to an associate minister’s job.

Hehr has already been shuffled to what was supposed to be a lower profile portfolio.

He is hosting his Christmas party in his Calgary riding Saturday. It might be the last time he hosts a festive event as a federal minister.

Tim Harper writes on national affairs. tjharper77@gmail.com, Twitter: @nutgraf1

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/12/12/how-many-political-lives-does-kent-hehr-have.html

Kent Hehr does not belong in cabinet


GARY MASON --- Dec 14, 2017

What is Kent Hehr still doing in the federal cabinet?

Mr. Hehr is the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities who has been making news recently, and not in a good way. He has been accused by a number of women of conducting himself inappropriately in meetings, mostly by making comments that were rude, condescending and grossly insensitive.

The minister has denied some of the allegations while apologizing for others. But you have to ask yourself why any of these women who came forward would lie about their interactions with him. As well, the complaints all have a similar feel.

This week, a woman from Nova Scotia disclosed details of a meeting she and her husband had with Mr. Hehr in 2016 when he was Veterans Affairs minister. (He was since demoted in a cabinet shuffle.) Kim Davis's husband Blair – a veteran of the Canadian peacekeeping mission in Bosnia – is suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Struggling to cope financially, Ms. Davis was looking for some help from the government. She highlighted how difficult it was to save for their children's education. She was lobbying to have financial benefits given to the families of deceased military personnel extended to those dealing with severe injuries that prevent them from working.

She said the minister couldn't have been more disrespectful, saying at one point: "There's lots of kids out there that don't get [a] paid education, why should yours?" When she asked him how she was supposed to support her family and care for her husband, the minister is alleged to have said: "You married him. He's your responsibility." Mr. Hehr denies the allegation.

However, it comes on the heels of similar complaints. Members of a thalidomide survivor group looking for financial help recently accused the minister of making wholly inappropriate statements to them. At one point he's alleged to have said: "You don't have it so bad. Everyone in Canada has a sob story." When the group explained they needed help now as they had shortened lifespans, the minister is said to have blurted out: "So you probably have about 10 years left then now. That's good news for the Canadian government." Again, Mr. Hehr denied making some of the comments and apologized if others were "misinterpreted."

A woman in Calgary also recently complained about a meeting she had with Mr. Hehr in October, 2016. Jennifer McCrea is part of a group of mothers suing the federal government over benefits they allege were denied them while on maternity leave. When she asked him why Ottawa was fighting these women, he allegedly said: "That's like asking, 'When did you stop beating your wife?'"Ms. McCrea said her jaw dropped.

When this matter was raised in the House of Commons, Mr. Hehr read a statement saying he apologized, acknowledging that his comments to people can sometimes be "brash and sometimes even inappropriate."

There is clearly a pattern here. And as I say, there is no reason to doubt the accounts of the women who have come forward. They want the public to be aware of the minister's conduct. If these were sexual-harassment complaints, it's unimaginable Mr. Hehr would be allowed to remain in his position. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already demonstrated he has zero tolerance for anyone even remotely associated with allegations of that sort. Which is why it's a mystery he is sticking by someone who has been accused of being demeaning, callous and shockingly rude to people who have come to him looking for assistance.

The fact that those levelling these charges against Mr. Hehr are all women should not be overlooked.

Mr. Hehr has become an embarrassment to the government, not to mention a political liability. He tarnishes the image of this administration with each passing day. There is no question Mr. Hehr has overcome enormous personal obstacles on his way to Ottawa, having been left a quadriplegic at the age of 21 as a result of a drive-by shooting. But however painful and compelling his story is, it shouldn't exempt him from treating others with the common decency they deserve. Nor should it afford him protections for poor behaviour not accorded other ministers.

The fact that he is the only minister from Conservative-dominated Calgary should also not enter into any calculation concerning his suitability for a seat at the cabinet table. It's time the Prime Minister dealt with this issue in the manner it should be. If he does, Mr. Hehr will no longer be in cabinet.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/kent-hehr-does-not-belong-in-cabinet/article37326083/

Kent Hehr's meanness conflicts with Sunny Ways

Lorne Gunter
December 16, 2017


Kent Hehr arrives at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on August 28, 2017 where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce changes to his cabinet.

In the fairy-tale land of Sunny Ways that is our current federal Liberal government, has Kent Hehr committed the first unpardonable offence: Meanness?

Hehr is the Calgary Liberal MP who also serves as minister of sport and persons with disabilities. In recent weeks, he has been the focus of several accusations about his rudeness and insensitivity towards victims’ organizations.

To be fair, Hehr has either apologized for or denied all the allegations (although it is not always easy to keep track of which he claims never happened and which ones he has said, “I’m sorry” for).

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons to tell Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer that Hehr had already apologized for an alleged incident involving a Nova Scotia veteran’s family.

As it turned out, this was instead one of the controversies Hehr denies and Trudeau later asked to have the official records of the Commons corrected. The allegations, denials and expressions of regret surrounding Hehr are so numerous and come so quickly, even the PM can’t keep up.

Until he, apparently, began beaking off at advocates for veterans and the disabled, Hehr had been seen by many as an inspiration.

Confined to a wheelchair since he was 21 (he is now 47), Hehr had been a talented junior and college hockey player in his hometown of Calgary. Then, late one night in October 1991, while driving home from a bar after hockey practice, Hehr and a buddy got into a shouting match with people in another car. One of the others drew out a gun and shot at the car Hehr was riding in.

Hehr was struck in the neck and rendered a quadriplegic. Despite that, he qualified for law school, became heavily involved in community and charitable organizations and served two terms in the Alberta legislature, where he became a well-known champion of LGBTQ rights.

Shortly after being elected to the House of Commons for the first time during the 2015 federal election, Hehr told a reporter he wished he’d gone home five minutes earlier on that fateful night. However, “I’m 100% happy. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the way my life turned out.”

A former president of the Alberta branch of the Canadian Paraplegic Association, Hehr then might seem like one of the last politicians who would, allegedly, tell thalidomide victims, “You don’t have it so bad. Everyone in Canada has a sob story.”

Or tell a woman whose veteran husband has chronic PTSD that he developed in Bosnia while peacekeeping on behalf of Canada and the UN in the 1990s, “You married him. He’s your responsibility.”

Or, allegedly, tell a group of Calgary moms who were asking him why they had been denied maternity-leave benefits that that was like asking him, “When did you stop beating your wife?”

Interestingly, the accusers in all three instances are women.

In recent months, Canadians have witnessed Liberal cabinet ministers with far greater problems than callousness.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau has huge potential conflict-of-interest issues, and has perhaps committed egregious ethics violations by not putting his vast holdings into a blind trust and by failing to disclose his ownership of a villa in the south of France.

Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef was discovered to have been admitted to Canada as a refugee under false pretenses. And, a year later, is still in cabinet, despite her passport still being wrong.

Morneau’s and Monsef’s transgressions are forgivable in Trutopia, where the highest priorities seem to be making everyone feel good, while thinking and saying (although not always doing) the fashionable thing.

But a minister (Hehr) who isn’t nice to victims’ groups cannot be long for his post.

http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-kent-hehrs-meanness-conflicts-with-sunny-ways