(Ottawa) Conservative Senator Don Plett apologized Thursday after two senators accused him of physical intimidation and verbal harassment in the Senate during debate on a carbon pricing bill earlier this month.
With hands trembling and his voice trembling through tears, the Manitoba senator said his behavior that day was not acceptable.
“What I did was wrong, it was unprofessional, it was not proper,” Mr Plett said.
“I (regret) the way I behaved that day. I never intended to cause harm or discomfort. I admit that I lost my temper,” he added.
Mr. Plett apologized to the President of the Senate Raymonde Gagné as well as to the head of the Independent Senators Group, Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain, and to the deputy head of the group, Senator Bernadette Clement.
Mmy Saint-Germain and Clement declared that on November 9, after Mme Clement moved to adjourn debate on a proposed amendment to the Conservative private member’s bill, Mr Plett “violently” threw his translation headset onto his desk, rushed across the Senate floor and began to reprimand them.
Mme Clement said she sought to adjourn the debate because there were senators who were not in the room and wanted to talk about the amendment.
She was so frightened during the tirade that she “just froze,” she recounted in an interview.
Mr Plett then turned his anger on the president, arguing that she had recognized Mme Clement before the other senators who were already up and waiting to speak about the bill.
Question of privilege
Mme Saint-Germain raised a question of privilege Tuesday regarding the incident, arguing that her privileges as a senator had been violated. Mme Clement supported this claim.
Plett said Thursday he disagreed that it was a matter of privilege because no senator was prevented from exercising their right to speak or vote in the House following the events.
“What happened in this chamber on November 9 and what some senators did on social media, as offensive as they may be, are not covered by privilege,” he said.
Intimidation
Mmy Saint-Germain and Clement also claimed that some senators shared a social media post that they said was the source of a barrage of hate phone calls, including one that forced Mme Clement to leave his home on the advice of the police.
Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer released Ms.’s photo and contact informationme Clement, as well as the contact details of Senator Chantal Petitclerc, on the X platform. The message urged people to call them to ask them why they were ending the debate.
All of this happened as furor over the carbon pricing bill raised temperatures in the Senate.
The bill was introduced by Conservative MP Ben Lobb in 2022 and passed by the House of Commons earlier this year with support from all parties except the Liberals.
The legislation would extend carbon price exemptions for at least eight years on propane and natural gas that farmers use to heat buildings and dry grain. Once the final stage of debate in the Senate is complete, if the bill is not amended, it will need one vote to become law.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who pledges to “remove” the carbon price if elected prime minister, launched a fierce campaign to pass the bill following the Liberals’ decision last month to exclude fuel oil from carbon pricing for three years.
The Liberals say the measure was intended to give people more time and money to replace oil boilers with electric heat pumps.
Conservatives, including Mr. Plett, accused senators, including Ms.me Clement, of conspiring with the Liberal cabinet to defeat the bill, which they deny.
Guilbeault will not resign
On Wednesday in the Senate, Mr. Plett accused Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault of trying to pressure senators to vote against the bill, while Mr. Guilbeault was in the Senate to answer questions senators.
Mr. Plett demanded to know how many senators he had “pressured to vote against or gut this bill and deny our farmers the tax relief they desperately need,” and whether his efforts were motivated by his promise to resign if a new carbon price exclusion occurs.
Mr Plett was referring to a comment made by the minister earlier this month, promising that “as long as I am Minister of the Environment, there will be no more exemptions from carbon pricing”.
“Minister, will you keep your promise and resign if Bill C-234 is passed in its original form? » asked Mr. Plett.
Mr. Guilbeault responded that he had not said he would resign and that he had not put pressure on any senator.
He has already admitted to calling half a dozen senators to talk about the bill, but insisted he was simply giving them the government’s position, not forcing them to vote against it.
“With all due respect, senator, there is a world of difference between talking to someone and pressuring them or inciting them to do something or to vote a certain way,” said Mr. .Guilbeault.