More on the Horwath hospital smear

By now we all know that NDP leader Andrea Horwath told a whopper of a lie during last week’s televised leaders’ debate. You know, about how her son broke his elbow and the hospital refused to cast it because they “couldn’t afford to.”

The next day, after some stammering and back-peddling, she clarifies that it didn’t need a cast but a sling, which they didn’t give the poor boy. It was at this point Horwath injects her much written about sense of humour: “I don’t think our dog could’ve helped him with a sling.”

Like Horwath, I’m a woman with a full-time job and a mom to a son who spends more time at the skate park than almost anywhere else. I, too, would be concerned if my son, alone because work kept me away, was left to his own devices to treat an injury.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Tonight we learned that Horwath’s son told a journalist he had called his father when the accident happened. Somehow, I don’t think Waffles the dog would’ve been required.

CBC blogger extraordinaire, Kady O’Malley, tweeted yesterday that she’s surprised a “bigger deal” hasn’t been made of Horwath’s “hospital tale.” Me, too.

There are few things women like less than people who exploit their children for personal gain. That’s what the NDP leader did – for no other reason than to score cheap political points she told a lie about her kid. In the process she damaged the reputation of a hospital and the healthcare providers who work there.

I think Horwath owes Ontarians the truth before October 6th.