House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota says he wants a healthy work environment for elected officials, in response to a Liberals’ call for an investigation into the use of a hidden hashtag referring to misogynist movements in videos by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
“I agree with you on the importance of the House of Commons providing a safe and respectful workplace for all MPs and their employees,” he wrote in a letter sent this week to Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell. .
The latter sent him in writing, last week, a request for the triggering of a “thorough investigation” surrounding the use of the hidden hashtag.
Mr. Rota replied that he had requested that the House administration look into the matter to “clarify the roles of the Speaker and the Board of Internal Economy in relation to the issues” raised by Ms. O’Connell.
The elected official maintained that she was trying to find out if parliamentary rules had been violated by the Conservative leader or his team.
“I therefore request that your office, in conjunction with the Board of Internal Economy, conduct a thorough investigation into Mr. Poilievre’s long-standing use of misogynistic keywords on social media and any potential violations of the Allowances Handbook. and resulting services to MPs, including determining whether Mr. Poilievre and his staff used parliamentary resources to record, upload and broadcast these disturbing videos,” she explained last week.
Ms. O’Connell also made it a work environment issue, saying that Mr. Poilievre had shown a “blatant disregard” for the values that make the House of Commons a healthy place, free from discrimination. and hateful rhetoric.
Liberals say the use of the hidden hashtag #mgtow — an acronym for “Men Going Their Own Way” — was done deliberately by Mr. Poilievre.
In his missive consulted by The Canadian Press On Friday, the Speaker of the House did not comment on “hashtag concerns” except to thank Ms. O’Connell for bringing it to his attention.
The #mgtow coding helps promote the videos in the networks of this movement made up of anti-feminists who want to remove women from their lives. The network Overall recently revealed that the hidden hashtag was attached to the new Conservative leader’s last 50 Youtube videos.
Since this matter surfaced, Mr. Poilievre’s office has claimed that he “did not know of the existence of these embedded tags”. They were said to have been “implemented and automated” to accompany each video “over the past four and a half years”.
“The embedded tags were immediately removed as soon as his office became aware of them. It is clear that Mr. Poilievre condemns misogyny and all forms of hate online,” it added.
In a written statement sent to The Canadian Press at the time Ms. O’Connell made her request for an inquiry, Mr. Poilievre did not directly comment on the Liberals’ initiative.
He had rather reiterated that he condemns misogyny, taking the opportunity to recall that Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott – two women – had to leave the cabinet in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin affair.
“The Prime Minister has fired the first-ever Indigenous female Attorney General. I condemn his abuse of young minority women in his own caucus who had to leave politics, and I condemn him for wearing racist costumes so many times he lost count. »
Mr. Poilievre’s use of social media to galvanize his support during the Conservative Party leadership race, which he won hands down, has been highlighted by many observers.