UPDATE: A respected national Inuit leader has denounced what she says is an aboriginal "racist slur" in a video featured on Conservative MP David Anderson's website and the post has now been removed from the politician's website and YouTube page.
National Inuit Leader Mary Simon said she hopes Anderson didn't know the comment "Slow down young man, you're talking Eskimo," was featured in the animated video about the Canadian Wheat Board.
"The comment is offensive to Inuit, has no place in public discussion, and certainly no place on the website of an elected Member of Parliament," she said, in a press release.
Saskatchewan MP David Anderson is grabbing attention for posting a video on his website and YouTube page featuring the phrase "You're talking Eskimo."
The video, made on the popular website Xtranormal where users can turn text into animated video, shows a man who wants to become a wheat farmer speaking with a wheat board official. It recently showed up on the blog of Ottawa Citizen reporter Glen McGregor.
The official tells the prospective farmer "You’re talking Eskimo," after hearing his plan to sell his wheat directly to his brother's bakery instead of the wheat board.
Later on in the video, which focuses on how the wheat board is a bad "communist" deal for Saskatchewan farmers, the official again says "There you go, talking Eskimo again."
Bill C-18, which will end the wheat board's monopoly, faces a second vote on Monday night. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says ending the monopoly will free farmers from their shackles.
Speaking during question period on Monday, NDP wheat board critic Pat Martin suggested Anderson is among seven Conservative MPs who have a personal or family stake in prairie grain farming, according to the CBC. Martin argued these MPs will place themselves in a conflict of interest by voting to end the monopoly.
Martin has written to Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson asking for a ruling on whether the MPs should abstain from the final (third) vote on the bill in the House of Commons.
Anderson, the parliamentary secretary responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, spoke before question period about the 13 farmers who were imprisoned after crossing the U.S. border with their grain in defiance of the wheat board.
A reunion for participants in the "Farmers for Justice" crossings and court battle is set for Tuesday.