Lukiwski denies calling NDP candidate a whore

Moose Jaw MP Tom Lukiwski is threatening legal action over a video in which he is accused of calling a provincial candidate an “NDP whore”.

The video was taken by a reporter at Lukiwski’s election night speech last month.

Lukiwski denies using the word insisting he said “NDP horde”, and he claims that he has used that phrase in previous speeches.

In the victory night speech to supporters, he refers to Saskatchewan Party MLA Greg Lawrence, who Lukiwski calls a friend. He talks of the boundary redistribution that affects Lawrence’s Moose Jaw Wakamaw consitituency.

Speaking by telephone, Luwkiwski admits the video makes it hard to tell what he said.

“Watching the video, it’s tough to determine, you can certainly if a somebody wanted to hear the word whore they can think that’s what I said, but I absolutely did not say that.”

Luwkiski goes on to say he is seeking legal counsel “because this is obviously an attempt to smear my reputation of something that I did not say”.

Lukiwski has apologized before for derogatory comments he made about homosexuals in another video made in 1991 that surfaced in 2007.

That won’t happen this time.

“This is something I will not apologize for because I didn’t say it. I did not call the NDP candidate a whore. I did not even know who the NDP candidate was. I didn’t know whether the NDP candidate was a male or a female.”

NDP CANDIDATE CALLS FOR LUKIWSKI’S RESIGNATION

The NDP candidate running against Greg Lawrence is Karen Purdy. Speaking to reporters outside her home in Moose Jaw, she maintains she doesn’t believe him.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he said whore.”

She wants Lukiwski to resign. The MP left a message on her voicemail asking her to call him.

“I was disappointed that a member of Parliament would say something like this,” she said.

Saskatchewan NDP leader Cam Broten has written to Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose asking for Lukiwski to be removed from her caucus.

AMBROSE SUPPORTS MP’S EXPLANATION

Ambrose released a statement online, saying that she accepts Lukiwski’s explanation that the comment was misheard. She said she has seen the video in question and noted that it was very difficult to determine what was said.

“Mr. Lukiswki strongly denies that he used the word in question. He has also reached out to the NDP candidate in order to assure her that no such insult was ever used or intended,” Ambrose wrote.

“Let me be clear. If derogatory language had been used, any member of caucus would have already been removed. “