Conservative, Bloc MPs call on Speaker to resign after ousting Poilievre over 'wacko' comment
CBC
Conservative MPs lined up Wednesday to denounce Speaker Greg Fergus for ejecting their leader Pierre Poilievre from the House of Commons after he refused to walk back calling the prime minister a "wacko."
Those MPs said Fergus was a "disgrace" and a "partisan" who can't control the House of Commons any longer. They called on him to step aside.
The Speaker's office said he'll do no such thing. "Speaker Fergus has no intention of resigning," a spokesperson told CBC News.
Liberal MPs, meanwhile, said Poilievre is the one who behaved badly by thumbing his nose at the Speaker's authority and insulting the prime minister.
"The leader of the opposition needs to stop acting like a child," said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. "Canadians expect us to work and deliver for them."
"What Canadians saw was basically the true face of Pierre Poilievre," said Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. "Canadians should be worried — he's willing to disregard this institution."
Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Poilievre lashed out at Trudeau because he didn't like the prime minister's questions to him about supposedly "cozying up with far-right groups."
Poilievre's "wacko" comment was a stunt "designed to raise money" and "demonstrate to certain elements of his electoral base that he's going to stand by them," Fraser said.
Attitudes were notably different outside the Conservative caucus meeting room as the party's MPs and senators assembled on Parliament Hill to discuss Tuesday's events.
"The Speaker should resign — he's a disgrace," said Conservative MP Michael Cooper.
"I never had confidence in the Speaker. He's a Liberal partisan," added MP Scott Aitchison.
In a blog post, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said Trudeau was dodging legitimate questions about the controversial B.C. decriminalization policy — and the possibility of it being expanded to Toronto — and the Speaker overreacted to Poilievre's language.
"Trudeau's decision to deflect as opposed to explain his policy is brutal, but even worse still was Speaker Fergus's decision to expel Mr. Poilievre for using an apt and justified term to describe the situation," she wrote.
"Based on today's question period, it's probably fair to say that Mr. Trudeau's government is f—ed. Bring on the election."
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.