Speaker kicks Poilievre out of the Commons after he calls PM a 'wacko' in tense question period exchange

Speaker Greg Fergus kicked Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre out of question period Tuesday after a par‐ ticularly nasty exchange with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Poilievre's day-long re‐ moval from the House of Commons came after he called Trudeau a "wacko" for supporting B.C.'s past policy of decriminalizing some hard drugs in an attempt to re‐ duce the number of over‐ dose-related deaths.

Poilievre said it was a "wacko policy" backed by "this wacko prime minister." Fergus asked him to with‐ draw the "unparliamentary language."

Poilievre refused, saying only that he agreed to re‐ place "wacko" with "extrem‐ ist" or "radical." Poilievre's re‐ fusal prompted Fergus to re‐ move him.

"There are a couple of things that are going on here today that are not accept‐ able," Fergus said.

He later called it a "re‐ markable question period" after MPs from all sides yelled at one another and called each other names.

Following Poilievre's re‐ moval, the Conservative cau‐ cus left the Commons cham‐ ber en masse, following their leader.

Trudeau fielded a few more questions Tuesday from Bloc and NDP MPs and then left the chamber after the fracas.

WATCH: Speaker tosses Poilievre from House of Commons

Poilievre turned to social media after getting the boot. "The Liberal speaker cen‐ sored me for describing Trudeau's hard drug policy as wacko," he posted.

"Six people dying from overdoses every day in B.C. is wacko. Nurses worried about breastfeeding after breathing in toxic drug fumes is wacko. This is a wacko policy from a wacko PM that's destroying lives."

Trudeau calls Poilievre 'spineless'

Trudeau also engaged in name-calling, saying at one point that Poilievre was a "spineless" leader.

He said Poilievre is trying to "earn votes through per‐ sonal attacks" after the Con‐ servative leader raised

Trudeau's past episodes of wearing blackface.

Trudeau accused Poilievre of courting "white nationalist groups" with his visit to an anti-carbon tax protest camp in the Maritimes earlier this month.

While at the camp, Poilievre stepped into a trailer that had a symbol as‐ sociated with Diagolon drawn on the door.

That's a group the RCMP has said supports an "accel‐ erationist" ideology - the idea that civil war or the collapse of western governments is inevitable and ought to be sped up.

"He will not denounce them and everything they stand for," Trudeau said of Poilievre, while also citing American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' endorsement of Poilievre.

"This is a 19-year career politician who knows exactly what he's doing and thinks he can get away with it," Trudeau said.

"It is a choice to pander to white nationalists. It's a choice to not condemn them and everything they stand for in his quest for votes."

Poilievre at one point said he wouldn't take lessons on racism from a prime minister whose government gave antiracism training money to Laith Marouf, a Montreal man who had a history of making antisemitic remarks in social media posts.

The government cut off funding to Marouf's company in 2022 after public scrutiny of his hateful tweets.

WATCH: Alberta Conser‐ vative MP kicked out of the House of Commons

Before Poilievre's removal, Fergus had Conservative MP Rachael Thomas removed from the chamber after she shouted at him and called him "a disgrace" for not im‐ mediately demanding that Trudeau withdraw his com‐ ment about Poilievre being "spineless."

Trudeau's "spineless" re‐ mark did result in a rebuke from Fergus. The Speaker told Trudeau not to make comments that "call into question the character of an individual member of Parlia‐ ment."

It's highly unusual for a Speaker to remove the Offici‐ al Opposition leader from the Commons during question period.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was forced out of the chamber in 2020 after he called a Bloc Québécois MP racist.

A spokesperson for Poilievre framed his leader's removal as an attempt by Fergus to "protect the prime minister" from tough ques‐ tions and silence the Conser‐ vative leader.

"By any reasonable mea‐ sure, these policies are wacko. The prime minister knows that and that's why he refuses to answer why he is keeping dangerous drugs le‐ gal in British Columbia," the spokesperson said.

Mental Health and Addic‐ tions Minister Ya'ara Saks told reporters earlier that Ot‐ tawa hasn't made a decision on what to do with B.C.'s re‐ quest to make illicit drug use illegal in all public spaces af‐ ter ending a federally sanc‐ tioned pilot project that de‐ criminalized their possession.

"It's under review by Health Canada," Saks said.

As for Conservative claims that Poilievre is somehow being silenced, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said it's nonsense.

"That guy has never shut his mouth in his life. Who si‐ lences him? He keeps saying dumb things," Miller said.

"It would be good if he shut his yap once in a while. The stuff that he does in the House of Commons is dis‐ graceful."