Sask politician quits as premier's legislative secretary after sexist comment

Mike Chisholm of the Saskatchewan Party quit that position Thursday after referring to NDP member Deb Higgins as "dumb bitch" during debate in committee.

"It was in, I guess you could call it, the heat of the battle," said Chisholm.

"I'm certainly sorry that I said it. I'm sorry that I even thought it and I apologized to the member and I apologized to the house. I don't know why I said it."

Chisholm and Higgins were among several members of the legislature at an intergovernmental affairs and justice committee meeting on Monday. The comment in question came roughly half an hour into the debate, as Chisholm raised concerns about NDP comments.

"I was in the process of sitting down and I was upset," said Chisholm. "And I referred to a comment that Ms. Higgins had made - what I considered a snide comment a little while before that - and I'm sorry that I did it.

"I guess I'm just human."

The remark wasn't noticed by committee members at the time, but was picked up by a microphone and printed in the official transcript of proceedings.

Higgins appeared visibly taken aback by the comment and called it a blow to women in politics.

"When you come to the legislature you always say to yourself 'it's not personal.' That was personal and in a roundabout way directed to all women," said Higgins.

"You'd never have a thing like this said to a man," she added.

"We're all trying to promote women getting involved in politics. To what, come to this? It's just that old attitude that's there and you can keep plodding along and thinking you're making advances and then something like this happens and it just feels like you've been set back a lot of years," Higgins told reporters.

Chisholm, who will remain as member of the legislature for Cut Knife-Turtleford, said women in the Saskatchewan Party caucus have offered their support "in this time of embarrassment." His words should never have been "thought or spoken," he added.

"I would be devastated if people used that kind of language to my wife or my daughter-in-law."

Chisholm said his resignation is appropriate given recent comments from Brad Wall, who said people should take care with their words and actions.

The premier told the legislature last month that, "If you're not prepared to see your remarks on the six o'clock news, they're probably wrong. If you're not prepared to say it to the individual, to their face, they shouldn't be said."

Wall made that statement as he offered his own apology for offensive comments made on an old videotape which had just surfaced. In the video, from 1991, Wall is shown affecting an eastern European accent and making disparaging comments about former premier Roy Romanow, a son of Ukrainian immigrants.

Chisholm said he has "failed to live up to the premier's" expectations.

While verbal back-and-forth is commonplace in debates, this is not the first time language has caused a commotion in Saskatchewan's legislature.

In 2005, a debate on chicken quotas turned ugly when the Saskatchewan Party's Lyle Stewart called then-NDP deputy premier Clay Serby a "lying son of a bitch." Earlier that year, Saskatchewan Party member Jason Dearborn apologized and was stripped of critic duties for telling constituents at a public meeting that Premier Lorne Calvert should be shot.

The NDP has had its share of missteps, too.

In 2004, Health Minister John Nilson came under fire for a joke that was interpreted as him making fun of Saskatchewan Party member Doreen Eagles' amputated finger. Later that year, Crown Investments Minister Pat Atkinson apologized after shouting "down dog, down" in the direction of a female Opposition politician in the legislature.