Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he does not regret calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko,' and now his MPs are renewing calls for the House of Commons Speaker to resign, this time over ordering the Official Opposition leader to leave the chamber.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he does not regret calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "wacko," and now his MPs are renewing calls for the House of Commons Speaker to resign, this time over ordering the Official Opposition leader to leave the chamber.

On Tuesday, Poilievre was kicked out of the House by Speaker Greg Fergus, after repeatedly refusing to withdraw his remark, made in the context of Trudeau's policy on hard drug decriminalization and amid a series of heated exchanges between the two leaders that saw Trudeau accuse his opponent of being "spineless."

After being called out by the Speaker for his language, Poilievre offered to replace the word "wacko" with "extremist" or "radical," and that didn't fly, resulting in him being named and told to leave.

In an interview on CP24's morning program on Wednesday, Poilievre was asked if he regrets saying what he did, and he said: "no."

"Because I can't think of any other word to describe what he's doing in our communities… His policies are wacko. Hiking the carbon tax to 61 cents a litre, wacko. Doubling housing costs, wacko. Doubling the national debt and causing the worst inflation in 40 years, is wacko. And I'm just calling it as it is," Poilievre said.

Meanwhile, as his MPs filed into the Conservative caucus meeting room Wednesday morning, some told reporters they think the Speaker should resign, a call they also made in December, unsuccessfully.

"He should resign, he's a disgrace," said Conservative MP Michael Cooper.