[LINK] "Raitt makes emotional apology over taped cancer remarks"

[rfmcdonald]

This was probably inevitable..

Fighting back tears, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt offered an apology Wednesday for calling the medical isotope issue ``sexy'' and described how she lost her own father and brother to cancer.

``Today I want to personally communicate my deep regret for wording I used in a private discussion earlier this year which was inadvertently recorded. As somebody who has had in their personal life been deeply affected by cancer, my intent was certainly not to show any disrespect for cancer victims, survivors or their families,'' Raitt said during a brief statement to reporters.

``However, it's clear that these remarks have been interpreted in that way, so I want to offer a clear apology to anyone who has been offended by what I have said.''

The emotional MP said when she was 11 years old she watched her father die from colon cancer and 20 years later she watched her brother die from lung cancer.

``As you can see it's a very personal issue for me and it's one that I really don't take lightly,'' she said fighting tears.

Based on the press and popular reaction, it looks like most of Canada shared with me the same lack of knowledge about alternate meanings of the word "sexy" that could be non-ridiculously used in this situation. Certainly the Prime Minister's Office had to do something to end this mess, and I suppose that they were lucky that Raitt had something in her personal background that could be used to this end.