(Ottawa) Interruptions, heckling and other excesses will no longer be tolerated by the new Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus. Ironically, Conservative MPs tried several times to interrupt him as he made his statement on Wednesday.
Posted at 3:38 p.m.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre got the ball rolling by standing up to ask his question, ignoring that the president had only just begun to speak. His statement came shortly before question time began.
Other lawmakers shouted at him as he began to speak and mocked his comments. Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, a former leader of the House of Commons, rose several times to raise a point of order because the statement postponed the start of Question Time, effectively interrupting the speaker’s statement.
“I have noticed a deterioration in decorum,” Mr Fergus said after three attempts. “This deterioration is not inevitable. It is not the natural extension of the emergence of social networks. »
He called on all MPs to behave differently or he would take action. “Firstly, excessive, disruptive and loud noise must be mitigated,” he said. This type of noise “is intended to intimidate, offend or bury the speakers.”
MPs also have to watch their words. “We have already seen MPs comparing their colleagues to Mussolini, calling another person a racist or shouting obscenities,” he recalled.
“I will give MPs the freedom to express their views, but questionable language and unnecessarily provocative statements will no longer be tolerated,” he continued.
Personal attacks or reference to the absence of a member in the plenary hall are also prohibited. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has already highlighted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s absence during Question Period as he attended international meetings outside the country.
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the arbiter of political debates. He has the power to bar an MP from speaking until they apologize, as Mr Fergus’s predecessor, Anthony Rota, did in June. As a last resort, he can also mention the name of the MP in question.