A senior government minister has accused Canada’s High Commissioner to Barbados Marie Legault of interfering in the internal affairs of the island and that she should be asked to leave immediately.
Education Minister Ronald Jones told a meeting of the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) attended by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart over the weekend that the Canadian diplomat and others should refrain from getting involved in the country’s domestic affairs.
Jones told supporters that while he liked Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “I ain’t going up there and tell anybody to vote for he”.
Political observers said the comment was directed at Legault even though he did not name the Canadian diplomat and was also in apparent reference to Legault’s direct challenge to political commentator Maureen Holder over the readiness of Barbados for a female Prime Minister.
Holder, regarded as a supporter of the ruling party, has called for a national debate on whether the country was “seriously ready for a female Prime Minister”.
But as she addressed a function here last week, the Canadian diplomat said the Caribbean had already produced four female heads of government and five heads of state, including the current Governor General, Dame Sandra Mason, and there was room for more females in top positions.
“Given the history, I have to say that I was taken aback when in January I saw political analyst Maureen Holder asking if Barbados was ready for a female Prime Minister and advocating for a national debate on it. I think every country is ready for a male or female prime minister. Gender does not have an impact,” Legault said, referring to progress made here and the Caribbean on women in politics.
But she also noted that women’s participation continued to be limited.
“In terms of women’s participation in politics, Grenada has led the way with 33 percent women in parliament and Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago at 31 percent. On the opposite side of the spectrum, currently Belize only counts with 9.4 percent women in parliament, and St Kitts, Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines, between 11 and 13 percent.
“In terms of Cabinet, Grenada, Dominica and St Lucia account for 27 to 36 percent, while Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts have seven to 11 percent and St Vincent has no women at all in their Cabinet,” she said.
But Jones in his fiery address to supporters said that diplomats residing here should respect the sovereignty of Barbados and refrain from demonstrating any particular leanings that could influence the political process.
“To think that you can come into my country and because you want to cuddle and cunoodle, you want to have nostrils clean or clear, you say to the people of Barbados to vote for that person. How dare you? You should be asked to leave or your government should tell you to come home because you have interfered in the domestic political affairs of Barbados.
“Pack your georgie bundles and go,” Jones said, suggesting also that “there is a wicked and deliberate attempt by one or two forces in Barbados who have the honour representing their country on sovereign soil in Barbados” to interfere in the country’s political process.
But he made it clear that “Barbados belongs to Barbadians and those we welcome to our shores.
“But I become seriously offended when somehow your garters pop, everything expose and in a demonstration of your proclivities and because you are functioning with some knowledge that I don’t have, you decide to make certain utterances,” Jones said.
The Education Minister made reference to the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 United States presidential election as he further cautioned foreign diplomats not to interfere in the electoral process.
“Get out! You can’t come and because you eat muskrats (species of rodent native to Canada and some parts of the US) you can come and tell us to eat rats. Let me tell wunna something . . . you can allow these things that are happening now to continue to happen with our eyes open, but we will wake up tomorrow morning and find that our country is not our own,” Jones said.
Prime Minister Stuart has not yet named a date for general elections even though the Parliament has been dissolved.
