Ontario Tourism Minister Called Eugene Melnyk, Senators Owner, a ‘Fucking Loser’: Reports
Credit to Author: Mack Lamoureux| Date: Fri, 05 Jul 2019 17:03:14 +0000
A high-ranking Ontario politician allegedly marched up to the owner of the Ottawa Senators and called him a “fucking loser” at a Rolling Stones concert north of Toronto last weekend.
The band was revving up for their third song, “Tumbling Dice”—which is one of the better songs on Exile on Main St. to accost a billionaire to—when Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s minister of tourism, came bursting out of the crowd and made a beeline for Eugene Melnyk, the owner and lead villain of the Ottawa Senators, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Melnyk told the Citizen he thought at first he thought it was a crazy fan but, nope, it was one of the more powerful provincial politicians in Canada. And this politician had some stuff to say.
“All of a sudden it’s this woman and she yells at me, ‘Do you know who I am?’” Melnyk told the Citizen.
“I can’t place her so I said, ‘I’m sorry. No.’ And she yells, ‘I am your minister and you’re a fucking piece of shit and you’re a fucking loser.’”
Melyn said that he didn’t know who MacLeod was but did recognize a member of her staff who had introduced herself earlier. When he pointed out who she was, MacLeod apparently said “fuck you” and stormed off.
A successful interaction.
“It’s more annoying. I’m more concerned if this loose cannon is running around like this,” Melnyk told the Citizen. “I did nothing to provoke it. I didn’t even know who it was. I was just standing around.”
Other than Premier Doug Ford himself, there is probably no other politician in Ontario that’s as consistently controversial and unpopular than MacLeod. The MPP for the Nepean riding is best known for outbursts and her “mishandling” of the Ford government’s changes to the Ontario Autism Program (MacLeod was accused of threatening a group of therapists who works with autistic children). The 44-year-old was recently shuffled out of being the minister of children, community and social services role and into being the minister of tourism.
Last week, MacLeod was called a “heartless cunt” by Gail Vaz-Oxlade, a former TV personality. The tweet caused a ton of controversy with MacLeod and her allies denouncing the bullying and strong use of language.
MacLeod, for what it’s worth, didn’t deny the whole thing with Melnyk. She took to Twitter wanting to “set the record straight.” She admitted an exchange took place and said she apologized for “for being so blunt.”
Meylnk told CTV he wasn’t impressed by MacLeod’s response but, oddly, was impressed by Doug Ford who personally reached out to Meylnk who reached out after the incident.
“I’m moving on from this — walking away with a much higher opinion of the Premier and a much lower opinion of our Minister of Sport (ironic,)” he wrote in an email to CTV.
Melnyk is no hero in this story, though. This is an owner that has slowly destroyed a team that, not that long ago, made it to the Eastern Conference finals. The Ottawa Senators have become a joke in the league (I’m an Oilers fan so I can accurately assess this) and a large part of that falls on Melnyk’s lap. The team came in dead last in the NHL season last year.
So, if we look at it in a technical sense MacLeod isn’t wrong, Melnyk can accurately be described as a loser.
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http://www.vice.com/en_ca/rss