(Ottawa) The Bloc Québécois has stopped answering questions in the House of Commons with the traditional “Mr. President” to send an additional signal to President Greg Fergus that he should step down.
Published yesterday at 6:02 p.m.
Michel Saba The Canadian Press
“We have stopped recognizing the president because he no longer has the confidence of the Bloc Québécois” and that “he appears to be desperately clinging to his post,” confirmed press secretary Julien Coulombe on Wednesday afternoon. Bonnafous told The Canadian Press.
House of Commons procedure requires oral questions to be addressed to the Speaker.
However, bloc members have been given “instructions” to “systematically” stop appointing Mr Fergus when he takes over as chairman and to do so “as far as possible” the rest of the time, Mr Coulombe-Bonnafous said.
However, bloc members will continue to use the term “Mr. President” when vice presidents lead deliberations.
The Liberal MP for Hull-Aylmer, who has held the position of Speaker of the House since October, is embarrassed after appearing in a video in his ceremonial attire at a recent partisan event.
The Conservatives and the Bloc are leading the charge to pressure him to resign because he has failed in his duty of impartiality, while the Liberals and New Democrats, who together have a majority of the vote, see this as a “miscarriage of judgment” and their Put your trust in him.
“When a speaker of the House of Representatives sees that two major parties no longer have confidence in him, the usual rule is that he leaves,” pleaded again on Wednesday the parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois, Alain Therrien.
In the wake of the controversy, elected officials sent the file to the House Standing Committee on Procedure and Affairs – “PROC,” as it is known – and tasked it with considering whether the president should be punished and, at the latest, submitting a report as Thursday.
During his evidence to the committee on Monday, Mr Fergus admitted his mistake and promised not to make it again.
He was content to resign if “the House of Representatives decides that it no longer has confidence in my work, that I cannot regain the confidence of the representatives, that I cannot fulfill the responsibilities of the President by coming out of this mistake.” deep and sincere conviction.” Desire to correct the situation.
The motion, which placed the matter in the hands of that committee, stated that the President “shall be directed to require appropriate corrective action.” The New Democrats propose imposing a fine.
It appears highly unlikely that committee members will unanimously call for Mr Fergus' resignation.
In any case, the Conservatives tabled a motion calling on the House of Representatives to withdraw its confidence from Speaker Fergus and order a new election. According to the political party, a vote will take place on Thursday.
Mr. Fergus became speaker of the House of Representatives in October after his predecessor, Anthony Rota, resigned after inadvertently prompting lawmakers to give a former Nazi fighter a standing ovation during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
with information from Émilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press