P.E.I. MLA apologizes for comments made about female paramedics during legislative committee
CBC
Tyler DesRoches, the Progressive Conservative MLA for Summerside-Wilmot, has issued an apology for comments he made about women paramedics during a legislature committee meeting on Wednesday.
DesRoches was questioning director of operations for Medavie Health Services Darcy Clinton during a meeting of the health and social development standing committee. Medavie Health Services is the operator of the province's ambulance service.
"Not to be sexist or anything like that, is there a stronger recruitment towards males or females?" asked DesRoches, who is a medical first responder himself.
"I just notice a lot more females in the profession now and we get a lot of calls for lift assist because — don't get me wrong, they're great, some of the women that are doing it are unbelievable — but I went to a lift assist the other day because both the females that were working the bus were 105 pounds and the man was 300 pounds and there was no way they were going to get him up."
Clinton responded there was no change in recruitment strategy, adding that it's important for first responders to call for assistance to avoid injuries.
Before the day ended, DesRoches posted an apology on his personal Facebook page.
"I made a statement that I wholeheartedly regret. My statement today was insensitive, inappropriate, and wrong; to all Prince Edward Islanders, I'm sorry," DesRoches wrote.
"I fully understand that someone's gender should never be a determining factor when evaluating someone's knowledge, skills and abilities to do their work."
DesRoches went on to say he has a daughter and he would never want her to feel she could not do any job she wants to do.
He promised to work to do better going forward.
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