Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has raised the ire of a Toronto Senator for his use of a phrase that may have originated as an insult referring to slaves, or black people.

Or, as Ignatieff claims, it may be nothing more than a harmless term first used by Bugs Bunny.

Either way, with all federal political parties on-edge over the prospect of a spring election, Ignatieff's use of the phrase "wait a cotton-pickin' minute" quickly generated a response.

Ignatieff uttered the phrase Thursday while accusing Harper of suggesting Canadians "don't care about democracy."

The Liberal leader was responding to Harper's comments that two recent parliamentary violations were just a "distraction" and politics was a game where you win some and lose some.

Ignatieff lashed out.

"If you say democracy is a little distraction, it doesn't matter to you, look out because the ... Canadian people will say now 'wait a cotton-pickin' minute here,'" Ignatieff said.

That prompted a prickly response from Don Meredith, a black, Jamaican-born pastor from Toronto whom Harper recently appointed to the Senate.

He claimed Ignatieff's choice of wording was "at the very least, insensitive, and certainly offensive to many people," and called on Ignatieff to apologize.

"The reference hails back to a time when slavery was acceptable and an entire group of people were held to be lesser than others because of the colour of their skin."

He also slammed Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, who is also black, for not speaking out against the comment.

Ignatieff's office quickly responded, saying the term isn't derogatory, but actually refers to any task that is "finicky, laborious and annoying work."

However the website Wordorigins.org gives an altogether different explanation, saying its first recorded use was by Bugs Bunny in a 1952 Looney Tunes cartoon, when it was used as an adjective of disapproval.

Bugs Bunny said: "Get your cotton-pickin' hooks offa me!"

However, in its noun form -- cotton-picker -- the phrase may in fact be offensive, the website says. It notes that around 1919 it was used as a descriptor for a contemptible person, and since at least 1930 it has been used as a derogatory term with "distinct racist overtones."

The website states: "The adjective cotton-picking does not carry (racist overtones), instead being a reference to the unpleasant nature of the work."

Ignatieff's use of the term isn't the first by a sitting politician.

A search of Hansard, the official record of parliamentary discussion, shows at least four occasions in the 1990s on which a Conservative MP used the phrase.

B.C. MP Jim Abbott and Saskatchewan MP Lee Morrison both used the expression "cotton picking." And Ken Epp, an MP from Alberta, used it on two seperate occasions.

All used the term as an adjective.