Tory MP Says She Was Unjustly Expelled by House Speaker

Conservative MP Rachael Thomas stands during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 2, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

A day following her expulsion from the House of Commons, Conservative MP Rachael Thomas claimed the House Speaker’s decision was made in error, as she had withdrawn her comments.

During a heated question period on April 30, Ms. Thomas was ejected from Parliament after calling Speaker Greg Fergus’ handling of the House “disgraceful.” But while Ms. Thomas withdrew her comments shortly after, she was removed from the House anyway.

During a point of privilege on May 1, Ms. Thomas read from an unofficial “blues” transcript of the proceedings of the day before. “Mr. Speaker, I stated that ’the Chair is acting in a disgraceful manner. I withdraw.'”

Ms. Thomas said there was a discrepancy between the transcript and the official Hansard version, which omitted her “I withdraw” comment. She also noted that Hansard included an MP shouting to Mr. Fergus that Ms. Thomas had withdrawn her remark.“It demonstrates that my withdrawal was not conditional, but rather it was proper and textbook. Therefore, it ought to have been accepted. Yet, I was kicked out of this place for the remainder of the day as if I hadn’t withdrawn those words.”

The Conservative MP claimed that by being prevented from participating in debate, her constituents were “robbed” of having a voice in the House of Commons. “It was especially egregious given the fact that there was a scheduled vote immediately following Question Period that day,” she said.

Following Ms. Thomas’s point of privilege, Mr. Fergus encouraged her to share all the information with his office so it could evaluate the situation “with extreme importance.”

Calls for Speaker to Resign

Shortly after Ms. Thomas was ejected from the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also removed for refusing to withdraw his calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “wacko” over his drug policies.  The expulsions have led to Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs calling for Mr. Fergus to step down as Speaker.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper said Mr. Fergus was a “disgrace” and called for his resignation, while Bloc MPs said he should leave because of his inability to manage the House of Commons.

On April 30, former NDP Leader Tom Mulcair called the two removals “blatant partisanship” and said Mr. Fergus should resign. “For me, it was manifestly, obviously partisan, and I don’t come at that lightly,” Mr. Mulcair said during CTV’s Power Play program on April 30.

“It was an awful performance by Speaker Greg Fergus. He just lost control … Fergus should do the right thing and step down.”

Mr. Fergus’ office rejected calls for the Liberal MP to step down on May 1, telling the Globe and Mail that “Speaker Fergus has no intention of resigning.”