Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in Ottawa, on Sept. 26.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, undeterred by his party’s failure to bring down the Liberal government once this week, has pushed another motion of non-confidence onto the House of Commons agenda while heated partisan rhetoric continues to derail the proceedings of an unstable Parliament.
Speaker Greg Fergus declared Wednesday he’d take away three chances for Mr. Poilievre to put questions to the government after the Conservative Leader’s refusal to make amends for calling NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh names during a tense exchange last week. Mr. Fergus told the House that Mr. Singh had apologized for his role in the fracas.
“Party leaders have a heightened responsibility to be role models. Rigorous debate and even profound disagreement are possible without resorting to such comments or actions,” Mr. Fergus said in his ruling.
The NDP and Liberals criticized the punishment as insufficient, noting other MPs who have refused to apologize haven’t been allowed to speak at all. Mr. Poilievre didn’t address the issue as he rose during Question Period, riffing off the latest motion of non-confidence framed around his party’s key talking points about the current cost of housing and food, as well as crime rates and the growth of government.
The prior motion, simply that the House had lost confidence in the government, had failed in a vote of 211 to 120, with the Bloc Québécois and NDP voting alongside the Liberals.
The NDP’s decision to pull out of a previous agreement propping up the Liberals in exchange for action on specific NDP priorities is the primary reason uncertainty over the future of the Liberals is now the order of the day.
Without the NDP deal, the Liberals must ensure support of at least one other party to pass any of their legislation. For the government to fall, all three opposition parties must vote together to bring them down. The vote on the Conservatives’ latest motion to do so is expected Tuesday. Another confidence vote, this one on changes to the capital gains regime, is expected Wednesday after the Conservatives forced it off the agenda earlier this week.
The Bloc has said its support is not indefinite: If the minority Liberals don’t pass two specific pieces of legislation by Oct. 29, the party would be open to voting the Liberals down. The Liberals have yet to say whether they’ll agree – one demand, a boost to seniors’ benefits, was estimated by the Parliamentary Budget Officer to cost as much as $16-billion over five years and more than $3.5-billion a year once fully implemented.
The NDP has yet to set conditions on how it will proceed. NDP MP Alistair MacGregor said Thursday his party has no intention of playing the Conservatives’ “silly games,” and won’t be supporting this latest motion.
Debate on the motion Thursday followed a similar pattern as the first: Arguments led off by the Conservatives over the current socio-economic state of Canada and the need to go to the polls were met with accusations from the other parties that Mr. Poilievre is not fit to lead, with the Speaker repeatedly interjecting to ask MPs to turn down the temperature.
But confidence in the Speaker himself was tested too as MPs fought with him over a heavily scrutinized exchange from the day before.
During Wednesday’s Question Period, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr. Poilievre sparred over high-priced bathroom finishings inside the Canadian consul-general residence in New York.
Mr. Trudeau opened his response by discussing engaging with international leaders. From across the aisle could be heard heckles about engagements in a bathtub, and whether the consul-general had the top bunk.
Mr. Trudeau described the remarks as being homophobic, prompting a general outcry and complaints from the floor. The Speaker did not rule in the moment, saying he could not tell who said what. Much later Wednesday, Alberta Conservative MP Garnett Genuis was identified as the source of the comment on the bathtub.
Mr. Genuis noted Thursday the official record of debates in the House of Commons recorded his remark as “does he engage with them in the bathtub?” and accusations of homophobia were false and defamatory.
Mr. Genuis said the Prime Minister’s answer had nothing to do with his question, and his point was to illustrate that – and the fact meetings don’t take places in bathtubs.
“It has nothing to do with sex, I wasn’t thinking about sex at all,” he said.
MPs in other parties vigorously disagreed, heckling Mr. Genuis throughout and challenging Mr. Fergus to make a formal ruling on the issue. He rose multiple times in an attempt to quiet the floor and muted microphones, though ultimately suggested he would consider the request.
“I am moving on,” he said. But in a sign that MPs may not, the shouting continued.