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McCrimmon, the Liberal member of Parliament for Kanata-Carleton, was one of the few women sitting at the Carp Fair “Men’s Night,” an annual fundraiser in which men from the west end gather to have dinner served by women involved with the fair and hear speeches. There’s a “Ladies’ Night” coming up when the roles are reversed. This night at the end of March, Murray, who’s living with advanced colon cancer that might have been curable if he hadn’t blown off routine colonoscopies, talked to a big crowd of rural guys about how important it is to get their health checked even if it’s unpleasant.

MacLaren himself didn’t immediately respond to an interview request Wednesday morning, after the Toronto Star reported on the incident. Neither did McCrimmon. According to the Star, MacLaren called her up to the stage at the March 24 event and put her and her husband’s names into a joke full of double-entendres that conflate church attendance and sex.

MacLaren’s caucusmate Lisa MacLeod sympathized with McCrimmon publicly. “I’m very sorry you had to endure that,” she tweeted, and McCrimmon thanked her.

When the hall went quiet, Eli El-Chantiry knew something was up.

The councillor for West-Carleton March was kibbitzing with Murray, he said, because MacLaren was at the microphone. The two politicians maintain a firm mutual antipathy and El-Chantiry didn’t want to listen to him.

“We were talking and, you know, you notice when a room with 350 people in it is going quiet. There was this sound,” El-Chantiry said Wednesday, imitating a gasp.