Kenney tweets defence of 'English to English' heckle of Sajjan

Conservative MP Jason Kenney went on Twitter to explain why he shouted in question period that he needed an "English to English translation" to understand Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

Kenney, a former minister of defence, directed the heckle Mondayat Sajjanas he was answering a question about the government's plan to deal with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Conservativedefence critic James Bezan and associate defence critic Pierre Paul-Husboth asked questions on the Liberals' election promise to withdraw Canada's fighter jets from the U.S.-led missionin Iraq and Syria.

BezanaccusedSajjanof suggestingthat Canada's allies were to blame for the spread of ISIS, referring to Sajjan's speech at an event organized byCanada 2020 on Friday.

"Why are the Liberals lecturing our allies on how to fight terrorism while at the same time befriending [Russian President Vladimir]Putin and Iran?" asked Bezan.

"It's about consulting our allies and having a dialogue," replied Sajjan. "These lessons, as I stated, were learned while working with our coalition partners, and that's the plan that we'll be putting forward and making sure that we get this right so we don't make the mistakes of the previous 10 years."

After question period, government House leaderKevin Lamoureuxrose in the House of Commons and called for Kenneyto apologize for his "inappropriate comment."

"I'm wondering if the member would do the proper thing and apologize or at the very least explain his comments," Lamoureux said.

Kenneyrefused to apologizefor his remarks, saying Sajjan'sanswer was "totally incoherent,"prompting shouts of "shame" from Liberal MPs.

Later, on Twitter, Liberal MP Raj Grewalcalled Kenney'sremarks "unacceptable."

MP Ruby Sahota called Kenney'sheckle "racist."

About an hour later, Kenney posts a series of replies to Grewal explaining why he needed a "translation" of Sajjan's answer.

Kenneyalsopreviously served as minister for multiculturalism,and for citizenship and immigration.