Tearful Calandra apologizes for Question Period non-answers

Conservative MP Paul Calandra made a tearful apology Friday in the House of Commons after his bizarre and evasive answers in Question Period earlier in the week drew wide-ranging criticism.

But while NDP leader Tom Mulcair accepted Calandra’s gesture, the NDP plans a motion Monday to allow the Speaker of the House to cut off MPs whose answers aren’t relevant to questions asked.

It’s not clear whether the motion will have support from other parties, or whether it will resolve complaints from MPs who feel question period yields little information of value.

The apology, and the NDP move, come after Calandra, speaking in his capacity as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, responded earlier this week to questions about Canada’s role in Iraq by berating the NDP on another topic altogether: Israel.

Friday, Calandra rose to make an emotional statement at the end of Question Period.

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to unconditionally, unreservedly apologize to this House for ... for my behaviour the other day,” he said, pausing as his voice cracked.

“Clearly I allowed the passion and the anger, (with) something I read, to get in the way of appropriately answering the question to the Leader of the Opposition.”

Calandra, MP for Oak Ridges-Markham, has been the target of ridicule in Ottawa for his bizarre responses to the questions, which he answered on Tuesday while standing in for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was in New York. Several senior cabinet ministers remained seated as Calandra fielded queries from the Official Opposition leader.

Responding to Mulcair’s three questions on Iraq, Calandra — who is known for ranging off-topic— instead rambled about an NDP supporter’s vulgar comments on Israel.

Friday, Calandra said, “I apologize ... to you, to this entire House and to my constituents.”

But he warned, “I am fairly certain that there will be other opportunities in the House where I will be answering other questions that you do not appreciate. I do not think this will be the last time that I will get up and answer a question that does not effectively respond.”

Some have suggested Calandra’s non-answers were delivered on orders from the Prime Minister’s Office, but he told the Commons, “Despite what people think about kids in short pants, this was my re- sponse and I take full responsibility. I apologize to the Leader of the Opposition, to you, Mr. Speaker, and to all my colleagues.”

(“The boys in short pants” is a term coined in 2012 by Keith Beardsley, a former adviser to Harper. The phrase means young PMO staffers who allegedly order Conservative back benchers to only vote in line with Harper.)

“I accept his apology,” Mulcair told Postmedia Friday afternoon. But he also emphasized his party’s proposal to give the Speaker of the House of Commons more power in Question Period.