Organizers of the Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market apologized online to a family who said their Santa had insulted a three-year-old boy. (Facebook)

TORONTO -- A wise-cracking bad Santa is now unemployed after the jolly old elf insulted a three-year-old boy Wednesday about his plaid coat and Leafs tuque.

Mary Trent said she was shocked by the behaviour of the Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market's Santa Claus in the Distillery District as her son, who was first in line to visit him, approached him. After Santa arrived a half-hour late, he proceeded to insult the boy's red plaid coat.

"The first thing he tells my son is, 'Oh, you look like Paul Bunyan'," she said. "Really? Is that appropriate?"

"Then he said, 'Oh, you're wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs tuque; you shouldn't be wearing that, they suck.'

"At that point, I took my son and told him we should go, Santa isn't being very good today."

Trent said her son was inconsolable and cried all the way home to Mississauga, Ont.