ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Tory caucus stormed out of the House of Assembly on Thursday afternoon after a testy exchange between Finance Minister Tom Osborne and Cape St. Francis MHA Kevin Parsons.
Osborne was beginning an address to the House, related to a poll that had come out the day before. Osborne asked Parsons to “follow him” as the next speaker in the House.
Parsons heckled back and later stood to enter his heckle into the record.
“I just – he said if I wanted to follow him, I told him I wouldn’t follow him back and forth across the floor like he does. I’m going to stay where I’m to,” Parsons said, referring to Osborne’s crossing the floor from the PCs to the Liberals in 2013.
As the exchange continued, Osborne went on to try to explain why he changed parties. In the process, Osborne referenced that Parsons is divorced.
“We can get dirty in this House if we want to. That’s not my nature. I can take a political jab, I can throw a political jab. Sometimes I enjoy that, and I often say that in this House,” Osborne said.
“I know the member opposite is divorced, and I’m not going to go into that, but I’m going to compare crossing the House…“ said Osborne, before being cut off by outcries from the opposition benches.
Parsons said of the comment, “That is uncalled for. Disgusting.”
Osborne said he did not intend to offend with the comment and later apologized, twice.
A clip of the exchange can be found online at thetelegram.com.
Twitter: @DavidMaherNL
