Insults in Parliament: a politician expelled!

On Tuesday, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, was expelled from the House of Commons, where politicians debate in Ottawa. For what ? Because he called Justin Trudeau an extremist, a racist and a weirdo.

Eh yes ! Even in Parliament, we cannot say everything. Pierre Poilievre was reminded of this. During the debates, the Conservative leader used several words deemed unacceptable when speaking about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “This is crazy policy from this crazy prime minister,” he said in English.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus, then intervened. His role is a bit like that of a referee. He ensures that debates between elected officials take place with respect. He asked Pierre Poilievre four times to retract his comments, but the latter refused to do so. Greg Fergus then kicked him out of the House. All the Conservative Party MPs also came out, in solidarity.

Pierre Poilievre later said on social networks that he had been censored, that is to say that he found that his freedom of expression had been restricted.

Be careful what you say!

In Ottawa, as in Quebec, we cannot do and say everything during the debates. Elected officials must be respectful, not insult their opponents and not harm discussions.

This is not the first time that a politician has been judged to have said unacceptable words. We call that unparliamentary remarks. Here are some other expressions that have been said in Parliament and deemed inappropriate: liar, evil genius, fart, spineless, bag of wind.

In Quebec, there is a list of words prohibited during debates. It contains more than 400 words or expressions. Here are some of them: Bonhomme Sept-Heures, boss of the becosses, Goon, Lucky Luke of Twitter, Madame la Marquise, Ti-coune, tête de Slinky, Dupont et Dupond, Ding et Dong.

Caroline Bouffard

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