Tories Demand Speaker’s Resignation Following Removal of Leader from Commons
Members of the Conservative Party have called on House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus to resign after he removed their leader Pierre Poilievre from the chamber Tuesday during question period.
Mr. Poilievre was removed from the House after he labelled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “wacko prime minister” following a disagreement on the decriminalization of drugs, which the Tory leader has suggested has contributed to overdose deaths and drugs being used in public places.
Mr. Trudeau had also accused Mr. Poilievre of consorting with white nationalists and demanded that he reject endorsements from the group “Diagolon,” an online group that Mr. Trudeau has accused of being far-right.
Conservative MP John Brassard reacted to Mr. Trudeau’s accusations, saying, “The Conservative Party has never been represented by a more diverse group in this country like we’ve seen now, and to imply and infer that somehow we are white nationalists or racists, I think is undignified.”
Tory MP Michael Cooper, meanwhile, called on Mr. Fergus to resign for his actions and called him a “disgrace.”
Mathieu Gravel, a spokesperson for the speaker, said that Mr. Fergus had no intentions of resigning from the role and noted that Mr. Poilievre was given multiple chances to withdraw his comments that had been deemed unparliamentary.
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On Tuesday morning ahead of a cabinet meeting, senior Liberal MPs defended Mr. Fergus, with Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon accusing Mr. Poilievre of behaving like former U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
“They come into our democratic institutions, they break all the rules and when they are called on breaking all the rules they leave and say they’ve been gagged,” Mr. MacKinnon said, touting a common argument made by the Liberals that the Conservatives have tried to import American-style politics.
The Bloc Québécois, which often supports the Liberal government, has been divided on Mr. Fergus, with Leader Yves-François Blanchet congratulating the speaker for removing Mr. Poilievre on Monday but Bloc House Leader Alain Therrien expressing a different opinion.
Mr. Rota took sole responsibility for the invitation to Ukrainian Canadian Yarosalv Hunka, who had been dubbed a hero by Mr. Rota during his visit to the chamber.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
