TORONTO - Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak says Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi should apologize for providing an “endorsement” of a book on Islam that condones men physically punishing their wives.
Hudak told reporters at Queen’s Park Tuesday that a letter of support Naqvi wrote to author Suhail Kapoor, which is published in the book Islam: Balancing Life and Beyond, is “disturbing.”
“It’s very disturbing that any member of the assembly, let alone a cabinet minister, would endorse this kind of garbage,” he said. “I think that Premier (Kathleen) Wynne needs to call her labour minister onto the carpet to rescind his endorsement of the book and apologize to the public.”
Naqvi told QMI Agency Monday that when he wrote the letter to Kapoor, he hadn’t read the book and he never endorsed it.
But in his reply to the author’s 2009 letter, Naqvi thanks him for promoting “tolerance, understanding and respect.”
