OTTAWA — Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said his heckling in the House of Commons about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taking baths in the New York consul general’s luxurious tub had “nothing to do with sex.” On Thursday, Garnett confessed to making the comment in the House the day prior after Liberals and the NDP blasted the Conservative benches for what they claim was a “homophobic” comment. Trudeau claimed that a Conservative MP had made a “casual homophobic comment” about him taking a bath with Tom Clark, the New York consul general currently at the centre of controversy over his new $9-million, taxpayer-funded luxury residence.
NDP whip Heather McPherson had called out Genuis directly on Wednesday and asked him to “apologize for his homophobic and disgusting comment.” Genuis argued that his comment was mischaracterized as something of sexual nature. MPs at the time were debating Trudeau’s trip earlier in the week to New York.
“It had nothing to do with sex. I wasn’t thinking about sex at all,” Genuis told MPs. In the House on Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Trudeau if he had inspected Clark’s new $9-million official residence while in New York, and he listed the new residence’s luxurious elements, including “a handcrafted copper soaking tub.
” Trudeau, who spent three days in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and to appear in a late-night show, said he was “engaging with international leaders on fig.