The Globe is being disingenuous, but why? Globe editorial writers know enough history to be able to put this in a long line of minor issues that become major electoral fodder.

They could start with the "Yvette incident" in the 1980 Quebec referendum, and go all the way to Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment in the last US election.

Here's the Globe's 1980 take on the Yvette incident:

"But two weeks later, an unexpected incident changed the nature of the campaign. Lise Payette, the minister responsible for the Feminine Condition, in an unguarded moment referred to Mrs. Ryan as an "Yvette," the docile little girl in a widely used grade-school primer.

"That provoked a massive backlash among housewives, and a week later more than 14,000 chanting women filled the Montreal Forum. The polls would later show that 10 per cent of Quebec women changed their vote intentions."