It will be up to MPs to decide the fate of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus.
Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer tabled a motion Tuesday to summon Mr. Fergus before the Parliamentary Procedure Committee for an investigation into alleged breaches of his duty of impartiality.
The Liberal MP is embroiled in controversy after speaking at an Ontario Liberal convention.
The three opposition parties in the House found his video appearance unacceptable, recalling the importance for the Speaker of the Commons to remain impartial and explicitly non-partisan. The Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois called for his resignation Monday afternoon.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Chris d’Entremont, ultimately ruled that the question of privilege was founded and is now calling on parliamentarians to decide whether Mr. Fergus will be accountable to the committee.
Until the vote, the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois reiterate their call for Mr. Fergus to leave office, which he has only held since October.
Asked whether his appearance before the committee would be sufficient, the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, replied that the resignation of the president would be “quicker than a committee”.
The New Democrats’ parliamentary leader, Peter Julian, also believes that the incident concerning Mr. Fergus should be the subject of a study in committee.
Trust maintained
Tuesday morning, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Karina Gould, and several Liberal ministers reaffirmed their confidence in the president. For meme Gould, the situation is nowhere near the same magnitude as that of former Speaker of the House Anthony Rota, whom Mr. Fergus succeeded.
Mr. Rota resigned in September after inviting a former Nazi fighter during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Parliament.
“The situation with Mr. Rota was different. It was very serious. What Mr. Fergus did was an error of judgment, but I think he understands why,” agreed Mr.me Gould.
“He apologized. He said that it is clear that it is a mistake, that it will happen again,” responded the Minister of Transport and lieutenant of Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez.
The member for Hull-Aylmer, in Outaouais, was elected to the post of Speaker of the House of Commons barely two months ago. Its task is to referee the deliberations, interpret the rules, maintain order and defend the rights and privileges of the deputies.