The Conservatives on Wednesday renewed calls for the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus, deeming him biased after he, the day before, expelled their leader, Pierre Poilievre, from the room because of his repeated refusals to simply withdraw his comments calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “crazy”.
“He must resign. It’s a shame,” said Alberta MP Michael Cooper, rushing into the room where the Conservative caucus meeting was going to be held.
His colleague Michael Barrett criticized President Fergus for having a double standard approach, not having sanctioned the Prime Minister for “personal insults” against his leader.
John Brassard, a former Conservative House leader, found it particularly “outrageous” that Mr. Trudeau “implies and infers that we are in one way or another white nationalists or racists” without him saying anything. there are consequences.
“Can you imagine the leader or prime minister of a G7 country referring to the opposition party like this? “, he asked journalists. According to him, this “unparliamentary language” from Mr. Trudeau makes him “more at fault” than the Conservative leader.
The Conservatives do not know if their party will table a motion of no confidence in President Fergus in the hope that the House of Commons will show them the door.
During a previous attempt last December, Mr. Fergus held on after obtaining a slim majority of support thanks to the Liberals and the New Democrats.
Although the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, had fun by affirming that the expulsion of the conservative leader was a decision of “common sense”, the political party maintains having lost confidence in the president.
A pending support
Greg Fergus was criticized for not only participating in a partisan event after being elected president, but also for having taken part in his presidential outfit and in his office in a video to congratulate a colleague, a video which was presented at a convention of the Ontario Liberal Party.
“We have already made our bed for a long time,” summarized the Bloc leader in the House, Alain Therrien, questioned near a parliament building. He added that Tuesday’s events “confirm” that Mr Fergus is struggling to keep the peace in the Commons.
At the New Democratic Party, where support is decisive, the deputy leader, Alexandre Boulerice, declared that he had personal confidence in Mr. Fergus and that he simply “applied the rules”, but that the meeting of his caucus which was at coming will clarify the group’s position.
“Mr Poilievre knew exactly what he was doing. It’s a kind of set-up where he wanted to look like a victim, then a martyr. Besides, a fundraising email went out immediately afterwards,” he insisted.
Asked whether the Liberals recognize that they are also adding fuel to the fire, Justin Trudeau’s lieutenant for Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez, instead defended his leader, believing that he is only stating facts.
“Mr. Poilievre went to meet white supremacists, people from the far right. We just ask that he denounce them, he can’t do it. That’s a problem in itself,” he said.