After a parliamentary session marked by high tensions in the House of Commons, federal MPs unanimously supported a Bloc Québécois motion urging their colleagues to adopt civic-minded behaviour.
The motion, tabled Monday by Salaberry-Suroît MP and Bloc Québécois whip Claude DeBellefeuille, asks that the House “reaffirm that violence and threats have no place in Parliament” and “urge its members to behave with civility and respect towards their colleagues.”
The call for calm comes in part from an altercation during question period last Thursday, when Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called his counterpart Jagmeet Singh a “hypocrite,” a “sellout” and a “fake” for refusing to vote to bring down the Liberal government in a confidence vote.
The NDP leader then allegedly got up from his seat to confront him. Witnesses report that he invited Mr. Poilievre to say all these things to him “to his face.” However, the exchanges were not captured by cameras or microphones, since neither of them had the right to speak in the House at the time.
“What we experienced last week was the best of the best,” said MP Claude DeBellefeuille in an interview with The Duty. It was necessary to start the week by rectifying the situation, she explains.
Although she was not in the House when the altercation took place last Thursday, the MP reports that her colleagues there witnessed the heated exchanges between the two leaders. “This is not the first time that things have boiled over. It is a failure to contain oneself,” she believes.
The Bloc Québécois MP therefore urges all elected officials to “restrain themselves” and “resist insults”, despite the “overheated situation” caused by the end of the parliamentary cycle.
Climate of tension
On Monday, House Speaker Greg Fergus also urged lawmakers to behave better than they did last week.
“Last Thursday, we heard comments that were outside the parliamentary framework and we observed gestures [en ce sens]”I hope that today we will behave worthy of our constituents,” he said just before starting question period. Mr. Fergus indicated that he intends to return to these incidents in the coming days.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Conservative leader and Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet were all absent.
The resumption of work in Ottawa last week was marked by several acrimonious exchanges between MPs. Liberal House leader Karina Gould called Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre a “fraudster” and a “bully,” while a Conservative MP called the prime minister a “hypocrite” and a “fake feminist.”
Last session, Pierre Poilievre was temporarily expelled from the House of Commons after refusing to withdraw comments calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “nutcase” (” wacko “, in English).