(Ottawa) The new Speaker of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus, will no longer tolerate interruptions, interruptions and other excesses. Ironically, when he made his statement on Wednesday, Conservative MPs repeatedly tried to interrupt.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre got the ball rolling by standing up to ask his question, ignoring the president as he began to speak. His statement was made before Question Time began.
As he began to speak, other MPs booed him and mocked his comments. Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, formerly Speaker of the House of Commons, rose a few times to raise points of order because the statement pushed back the start of question period, effectively interrupting the speaker’s statement.
“I noticed a decline in decorum,” Mr. Fergus said after three tries. “This degradation is not inevitable. It is not a natural extension of the advent of social networks. ยป
He asked all the delegates to behave differently otherwise action would be taken. “First, excessive, disruptive and noisy noise should be reduced,” he said. This type of noise is “intended to threaten, insult or bury” the speakers.
MPs should also watch their words. “We’ve already seen MPs comparing their colleagues to Mussolini, calling another person a racist or shouting obscenities,” he recalled.
“I will give MPs the latitude to express their views, but questionable language and unnecessarily provocative statements will no longer be tolerated,” he continued.
Personal attacks or pointing out the lack of membership in the room are also prohibited. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has already highlighted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s absence from international meetings outside the country during Question Time.
The Speaker of the Commons is the arbiter of political debates. In June Mr. He has the power to refuse to seat an MP unless he apologises, as Fergus’ predecessor Anthony Rotta did. As a last resort, he may also mention the name of the guilty MP.
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