An award-winning architect says she has dealt with much worse in her professional life than a joke Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister made about her fashion choices.
But Johanna Hurme says Pallister shouldn’t have acknowledged her presence at a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce event by focusing on her shoes.
Pallister began a speech Thursday by thanking Hurme, chair of the chamber, for dressing up and wearing high heels.
He later said it was an awkward remark that was meant to be a humorous nod to his own towering height.
Hurme says in a statement she doesn’t think Pallister’s comment was ill-intended and it wasn’t all that significant for her personally.
But she says given the national attention the comment received, she couldn’t stay silent about Pallister focusing on her footwear instead of her work. Before Pallister made his poorly received remark, Hurme said she had just finished a presentation on sprawl and the importance of dealing with the province’s infrastructure deficit.
“And while I believe the premier was attempting to acknowledge my presence in the room, he unfortunately chose to do so not based on my work or content of that presentation, but rather make a joke about the fact I was wearing tall shoes,” Hurme said in the statement Friday.
“This, combined with the fact that the event took place in front of nearly 1,200 business leaders of our province does require it to be called out and addressed.”
She said ...