Members of the Conservative Party are calling 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 expelled from the House after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “wacko prime minister” following a disagreement on the decriminalization of drugs, which the Tory leader suggested has contributed to overdose deaths and drug use in public places.
Mr. Trudeau had 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 intention of resigning and noted that Mr. Poilievre was given multiple chances to withdraw his comments, which had been deemed unparliamentary.
Before a Tuesday morning 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 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, echoing a frequent Liberal argument that the Conservatives have tried to import American-style politics.
The Bloc Québécois, which often supports the Liberal government, is divided on Mr. Fergus, with Leader Yves-François Blanchet congratulating the Speaker for removing Mr. Poilievre on April 30 but Bloc House Leader Alain Therrien calling for his resignation.
“Mr. Fergus has had difficulty maintaining peace in Parliament for a long time,” Mr. Therrien said, according to a CBC report. “We think the Speaker should leave. The recent events confirm that position.”
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 Tories and the Bloc had earlier also called for Mr. Fergus’s ouster as Speaker after he appeared in a video last December to pay tribute to the outgoing interim leader of the Ontario Liberals. Mr. Fergus appeared in the video with his Speaker robes, which led to opposition MPs saying it showed partisanship.
