A provincial cabinet minister is pulling no punches in his response to a detractor who has targeted him repeatedly on VOCM Open Line.

Chris Tibbs was responding to Paul Healey, whose frustration seeking a response from the minister on a matter involving his family started to get personal and struck a nerve.

He says Healey was feeding on a piece of correspondence that he received from another constituent attacking the gay community. Tibbs responded by labelling the man, whose name is not known, a “pathetic weakling.”

“He reached out to me personally to tell me that my gay son and the rest of the homosexuals in our community are the ones tearing apart the fabric of society,” Tibbs told VOCM Open Line with Brian Callahan yesterday.

Tibbs, who is a fierce advocate for his son and the 2SLGBTQI+ community, says taking the matter out on his son was a low blow, and he didn’t mince his words in his response.

“It’s something that I’ve taken on many years ago when our son came out to us. I know the struggles he had. He had four men in a vehicle one time chase him into the woods, using everybody’s ‘favourite’ F word…and this is the stuff that our young people have to put up with.”

Healey maintains his stance that Tibbs is not being held accountable.

“I received an email from a gentleman who was an Afghanistan veteran mentioning the conversation he had with Tibbs, and that Tibbs called him a pathetic weakling,” Healey told VOCM Open.

“I don’t know the story behind it but on what level would an elected official call one of his constituents a pathetic weakling.”