(Ottawa) Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, wants to remove the phrase “Justinflation” from the log of proceedings.
Posted at 5:37 p.m.
A few days ago, the arbiter of exchanges between deputies began to distribute warnings to elected Conservatives who use this portmanteau word popularized by their leader, Pierre Poilievre, several months ago.
“I’m going to have to interrupt the deputy […] The hon. member used a pun that does indirectly what cannot be done directly. I therefore ask him to start from the beginning and correct his mistake, ”intervened Anthony Rota, among others, on Wednesday.
What cannot be done directly is to pronounce the name of a deputy.
“During debates, deputies must not address each other by name; they must refer to their colleagues by title, position or constituency to avoid any tendency to personalize the debate,” states the House of Commons Book of Procedure and Practice.
“The president deemed that the term ‘Justinflation’ was a way of using the prime minister’s name indirectly,” Amélie Crosson, spokesperson for President Anthony Rota’s office, wrote in an email Thursday.
On Monday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader, Kevin Lamoureux, called for the intervention of Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes after Conservative MP Garnett Genuis used the phrase three times.
“I showed patience with the deputy, he launched. I would say that the hon. NDP MP Charlie Angus nodded.
“The MP keeps using that kind of lame term, and I don’t think it’s appropriate,” he said.
The term “Justinflation,” which conservatives like, is a Canadian adaptation of a similar pun from south of the border: In the United States, Republicans have “Bidenflation.” In either case, it is used extensively as a hashtag on social networks.
The president’s choice?
“Maybe pause in the right place [entre just et inflation] “, he provided as advice to the conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, Wednesday.
There is no index word list in the House of Commons, unlike the National Assembly.