(Ottawa) After his election as Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus asked MPs to treat it as they would a new car to avoid scratching it. There are now a few scratches on the bodywork, he concedes. His first nine months in office were marked by calls for his resignation and attempts to challenge his authority. But he also made history by becoming the first black person to hold this important position.
“You know, it was much more symbolic than I would have thought,” he admits, surprised by the impact of his nomination. “It’s important for the black community to see itself… for all racialized communities,” he notes. This is another glass ceiling that we have just broken. »
He will leave his mark in his own way by creating a new tradition inspired by the Caribbean origins of his parents: a rum will be added to the official scotch and whiskey served during protocol events1. He keeps secret the brand chosen by the elected officials which must be revealed later.
Greg Fergus is known for his contagious good humor in the corridors of Parliament and it is with a broad smile that he welcomes us into his office with walls dotted with old volumes of Hansard, the journal of the debates of the House of Commons. He took pleasure in reading these reports which he received in the mail at the age of 14.
” It was very nerdI freely admit it,” he exclaims with a laugh.
Tense climate and controversies
This position, which he believed to be inaccessible, suddenly became vacant after the resignation of Anthony Rota following the diplomatic incident caused by the ovation to a former Nazi fighter in Parliament. Mr. Fergus assumed the president’s chair in October in a tense climate marked by petty partisanship.
“I knew it was going to be difficult,” admits the Liberal MP for Hull-Aylmer.
Calls for his resignation resounded two months after he took office and resounded again last month following two incidents, one for which he had to apologize and the other where he received the apology of the Liberal Party of Canada.
He first sparked controversy himself by recording, in his presidential clothes, a video in tribute to John Fraser, a long-time friend, who was preparing to leave the head of the Ontario Liberal Party. The video, which was supposed to be private, was broadcast during the leadership convention. However, the arbiter of parliamentary debates must be neutral.
“You know, it was a mistake,” he admits. […] We learn. »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
A portrait of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, taken during his visit in 1941, hangs in Greg Fergus’ office.
Then, the Liberal Party unwittingly published an invitation to an evening intended for activists in his riding which denounced the “thoughtless policies” of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. This was a few weeks after he had kicked him out of the House of Commons for calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “crazy” and an “extremist.”
Two of the four parties recognized in the House of Commons – the Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois – have loudly proclaimed that they no longer have confidence in him, but a majority of MPs continue to support him.
If I can go back to the analogy of a referee in a hockey game, we are just working on the ref a little bit. It does not work. All my decisions have been taken in the best traditions of Parliament. […] There is no bias.
Greg Fergus, Speaker of the House of Commons
Even that of expelling the leader of the official opposition when he refused to withdraw his unparliamentary remarks regarding the Prime Minister. “It’s not something I would like to repeat,” he admits.
“What I’m looking for is that MPs govern themselves better, that they find the right path to express their cutting-edge, passionate, important ideas, but within the framework of what is acceptable in the parliamentary context. »
Heighten the debate
While he can crack down on unparliamentary language, the president’s powers are limited to force the government to offer real answers to questions from opposition parties. The regulations do not allow him to act to improve their quality during question period, but he claims to have given warnings three times to the government to improve the quality of the answers listed on the order paper.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus
MPs cannot do their job if they do not receive the exact answers, so the people who prepare these answers must be much more sensitive to this question.
Greg Fergus, Speaker of the House of Commons
His mandate was punctuated by a second historic moment, that of the reprimand given to Kristian Firth, one of the two partners of the firm GC Strategies, called to appear at the bar of the House of Commons. This had not happened since 1913.
The exercise “could have easily gone off the rails”, but it is important, to send the message, that the people summoned by the parliamentary committees have the obligation to answer their questions “honestly” otherwise there are consequences.
“We have extraordinary powers as MPs, as Parliament. Honestly, there are no limits to our powers, so we must exercise them with a lot of judgment and common sense, he explains. And I think that’s a great example where Parliament really met expectations and lived up to the occasion. »
He will hang up his toga until the resumption of parliamentary work on September 16, but will take advantage of this lull to carry out administrative tasks – the Speaker of the House of Commons supervises the work of 2,500 employees – and meet the citizens of his constituency.
1. The official scotch served during protocol events is Laphroaig Quarter Cask Single Malt; the official whiskey is Canadian whiskey from the Dunrobin distillery.