A retiring Canadian M.P., Gerry Ritz, has stirred up quite a row by calling the government's environment minister a "climate Barbie."

The tweet, since deleted, was posted next to a new report saying emissions targets by major industrialized nations in the Paris climate deal will not be met.  Ritz asked, "Has anyone told our climate Barbie?"

The Times:

Ms McKenna replied directly. "Do you use that sexist language about your daughter, mother, sister? We need more women in politics. Your sexist comments won't stop us," she wrote.

Andrew Scheer, the Conservative leader, condemned the comment as demeaning. Mr Ritz later apologised and said that the Barbie moniker was "not reflective of the role the minister plays".

The term stems from claims that Ms McKenna is more concerned with her appearance and luxury goods than the environment, an attack line that feminist commentators see as a reflection of male dominance in Canadian politics. Only 91 of the country's 338 MPs are women, one of the lowest rates in the West, although Mr Trudeau deliberately gave his cabinet a 50/50 gender split.

Yesterday Mr Trudeau admitted that his government was struggling to retain women who ran for the Liberal Party in elections two years ago.

Speaking at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he said: "We went out and recruited a lot of great young women to run for politics and they did and were successful. And now we're having a bit of a challenge [around retention] as people are realising that, 'Wow, this is a really nasty place to work'. Parliaments are built for elderly white grandpas, right?'"

Ms McKenna, 46, expressed regret that the row was detracting from her work at the UN general assembly. "It's not about me," she told the Canadian Press news agency. "It's about how women, especially women in politics, face these kind of comments – sexist, misogynistic comments – especially from conservatives."

There's no doubt that referring to a woman as "Barbie" can be sexist.  But if the shoe fits...

Rebel Media:

Conservative MP and leadership candidate Andrew Scheer asked an order paper question about the costs of staging, lighting and audio equipment for government announcements through all departments.

The answers are back and so are the total costs of McKenna's vanity.

Between Parks Canada and Environment Canada, McKenna wasted exactly $40,837.03 in less than a year.

Remember when McKenna fell for the fake suggestion about not using security lighting in dark alleys and parking lots because of the effects on the climate?

A trolling genius from Saskatchewan answered when McKenna called for environment week suggestions about how to cut C02 emissions, saying:

"Studies have shown that so called security lighting does not reduce crime, it's time to put an end to insecurity lights so we can all have a brighter future"

McKenna's 24 person social media team thought it was a brilliant idea. They even made a slick meme for it.

Imagine being that stupid! McKenna's team actually think electricity is wasted on lighting meant to keep rapists, purse snatchers and murderers at bay.

But electricity for lighting meant to soften McKenna's crows feet is good value.

So yeah, "Barbie" may be a sexist pejorative, but what if we just referred to McKenna as a vain, gullible politician who's dumb as a post?

Stupidity knows no specific race, sex, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or hair color.  The knee-jerk response that any criticism of a female politician is "sexist" is ludicrous.  The fact is, most smart people don't bother to run for office.  They're too busy leading happy, successful lives to be bothered. 

For the McKennas of the political world, their only defense against the charge that they lack intellectual gifts is to change the subject.  Perhaps McKenna would like to respond to the substance of the "Barbie" criticism: has she heard of this new report, and what does she think of it?

It may be an inconvenient truth for climate hysterics, but the rest of us want to know.