The Globe and Mail has removed a piece from its website in which a longtime columnist claims she once attempted to breastfeed the infant child of Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong without his or his wife’s consent, and while she was not lactating.
In her column, titled “The joy (and politics) of breastfeeding someone else’s baby,” Leah Mclaren, 41, said the incident occurred at a Toronto house party when she was “about 25 and did not have a baby – or even a boyfriend.”
McLaren goes on to claim that, after wandering upstairs in search of a washroom, she spotted an infant boy in a room, sat up in a portable carseat, and held him in her arms.
After the child sucked on her finger, McLaren said she realized “what he wanted… The only problem was, I had no milk. But would it be so bad, I wondered, if I just tried it out – just for a minute – just to see what it felt like?”
McLaren then claims that, as she began to undo her blouse and reach in to her bra, Chong walked in, took the child and politely bade her farewell without knowing what had happened.
“I realize now that it was wrong and rude and frankly a bit weird of me to think I could breastfeed a stranger’s baby just for kicks,” wrote McLaren. “I hate to think what would have happened if Mr. Chong – or worse, his wife – had walked in while I was in the act.”
In a statement to the National Post, Chong confirmed the incident happened more than a decade ago.
“It was odd, no doubt, but not of any real consequence,” he said.
“I entered this race to discuss important challenges facing Canada. I am happy to discuss those. But I won’t be making any further comment on this.”
The column was deleted from the Globe’s website some time after it was published last Wednesday, March 22. However, it ignited a firestorm of controversy online Sunday evening after several users on Twitter posted links to news aggregator and archival websites where it had been preserved.
Dozens of readers on social media decried McLaren’s alleged behaviour with an infant as inappropriate and criticized the Globe for publishing the piece.
“What,” tweeted Greg Howard, a David Carr fellow at the New York Times. “But seriously don’t breastfeed other people’s kids.”
“WOW OKAY DON’T BREASTFEED A BABY WITHOUT ASKING I DIDN’T REALIZE WE HAD TO CLEAR IT UP,” stressed BuzzFeed writer Scaachi Koul.
Tabatha Southey, a fellow Globe columnist who writes humour pieces for the newspaper, dubbed the online fallout from McLaren’s piece “lacgate.”
Beyond the backlash against the column’s general claims, several internet skeptics raised concerns about the accuracy of the timeline in McLaren’s story. According to a January 2015 profile of Chong in the Toronto Star, his sons William, then 10, Alistair, then 7 and Cameron, then 5, would not have been born in time for a house party in 2000, the year McLaren turned 25.
Michael Chong with his spouse Carrie Davidson and their family
The Globe and Mail did not provide any explanation for its decision to remove the column, nor has it issued any corrections of clarifications regarding its content.
Globe editor David Walmsley and public editor Sylvia Stead did not reply to requests for comment.
While McLaren did not reply to a request for comment, her column ends, “Apologies to Mr. and Mrs. Chong.”
The breastfeeding piece is not the first time McLaren’s work for the Globe has been embroiled in controversy.
In 2012, she tried to sell her own house in a real estate column. The piece was ruled a conflict of interest by Stead, although that was too late to stop the $600,000 home from selling above its listing price.
The Globe has continued to publish McLaren ever since.
It has also stood by another of its flagship columnists through scandal, conceding in 2012 and 2016 that Margaret Wente did not meet the paper’s editorial standards following multiple allegations of plagiarism.
http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/ne...-michael-chongs-baby-to-see-what-it-felt-like
In her column, titled “The joy (and politics) of breastfeeding someone else’s baby,” Leah Mclaren, 41, said the incident occurred at a Toronto house party when she was “about 25 and did not have a baby – or even a boyfriend.”
McLaren goes on to claim that, after wandering upstairs in search of a washroom, she spotted an infant boy in a room, sat up in a portable carseat, and held him in her arms.
After the child sucked on her finger, McLaren said she realized “what he wanted… The only problem was, I had no milk. But would it be so bad, I wondered, if I just tried it out – just for a minute – just to see what it felt like?”
McLaren then claims that, as she began to undo her blouse and reach in to her bra, Chong walked in, took the child and politely bade her farewell without knowing what had happened.
“I realize now that it was wrong and rude and frankly a bit weird of me to think I could breastfeed a stranger’s baby just for kicks,” wrote McLaren. “I hate to think what would have happened if Mr. Chong – or worse, his wife – had walked in while I was in the act.”
In a statement to the National Post, Chong confirmed the incident happened more than a decade ago.
“It was odd, no doubt, but not of any real consequence,” he said.
“I entered this race to discuss important challenges facing Canada. I am happy to discuss those. But I won’t be making any further comment on this.”
The column was deleted from the Globe’s website some time after it was published last Wednesday, March 22. However, it ignited a firestorm of controversy online Sunday evening after several users on Twitter posted links to news aggregator and archival websites where it had been preserved.
Dozens of readers on social media decried McLaren’s alleged behaviour with an infant as inappropriate and criticized the Globe for publishing the piece.
“What,” tweeted Greg Howard, a David Carr fellow at the New York Times. “But seriously don’t breastfeed other people’s kids.”
“WOW OKAY DON’T BREASTFEED A BABY WITHOUT ASKING I DIDN’T REALIZE WE HAD TO CLEAR IT UP,” stressed BuzzFeed writer Scaachi Koul.
Tabatha Southey, a fellow Globe columnist who writes humour pieces for the newspaper, dubbed the online fallout from McLaren’s piece “lacgate.”
Beyond the backlash against the column’s general claims, several internet skeptics raised concerns about the accuracy of the timeline in McLaren’s story. According to a January 2015 profile of Chong in the Toronto Star, his sons William, then 10, Alistair, then 7 and Cameron, then 5, would not have been born in time for a house party in 2000, the year McLaren turned 25.
Michael Chong with his spouse Carrie Davidson and their family
The Globe and Mail did not provide any explanation for its decision to remove the column, nor has it issued any corrections of clarifications regarding its content.
Globe editor David Walmsley and public editor Sylvia Stead did not reply to requests for comment.
While McLaren did not reply to a request for comment, her column ends, “Apologies to Mr. and Mrs. Chong.”
The breastfeeding piece is not the first time McLaren’s work for the Globe has been embroiled in controversy.
In 2012, she tried to sell her own house in a real estate column. The piece was ruled a conflict of interest by Stead, although that was too late to stop the $600,000 home from selling above its listing price.
The Globe has continued to publish McLaren ever since.
It has also stood by another of its flagship columnists through scandal, conceding in 2012 and 2016 that Margaret Wente did not meet the paper’s editorial standards following multiple allegations of plagiarism.
http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/ne...-michael-chongs-baby-to-see-what-it-felt-like
