[rubecube]

As far as "embarrassing remarks by Conservative MPs" goes, this is probably below Anders calling Mandela a terrorist, but pretty brutal nonetheless. Not only was it in poor taste, it was also just flat-out wrong on a factual basis. It looks like either she deliberately lied to conjure up political support or she's just an idiot. Also interesting that we have yet another instance of the Harper government rejecting expert recommendations.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tory...bing-1.3152013

In a speech to churchgoers in her riding two weeks ago, Conservative backbencher Wai Young, the MP for Vancouver South, compared the Harper government to Jesus and accused Canada's spy agency, CSIS, of knowing in advance about Canada's worst-ever attack — the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182.

She added that, "If bill C-51 had been in place 30 years ago, Air India would never have happened. Those some 400 lives would have been saved."

"CSIS knew or heard that there was a bomb on board this plane," she said. "But because of the strict laws that government departments have, they cannot share information between departments.… Because they couldn't share that information with the RCMP, the RCMP could not act to take that bomb off that plane. Today, with C-51, they will be able to share that information."

The factual record, however, contradicts her. After a series of criminal trials and a lengthy inquiry under retired Supreme Court justice John Major, no evidence has ever surfaced to suggest that CSIS knew there was a bomb on the Air India plane. Nor has there been any evidence, even if it had known, that any law prevented CSIS from advising the RCMP.

Rather, Major's inquiry concluded there was a lack of co-ordination between CSIS and the RCMP in the investigation of the bombing, and that this should be remedied by having both agencies report to a national security adviser.

The Harper government rejected that recommendation.

In her June 29 speech to the Harvest City Church, Young also criticized "most journalists" because, she said, they did not respect facts and should call themselves "columnists" instead.

"I do not read the newspapers anymore, because most of the facts in there are not factual," Young told the congregation.