Poilievre subdued in question period the day after getting kicked out for 'wacko' comment

Wednesday's question peri‐ od was notably more sub‐ dued a day after the House of Commons erupted in a nasty war of words be‐ tween Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and the prime minister that ulti‐ mately resulted in Poilievre's removal.

Poilievre spoke in a softer tone throughout the 50minute session and largely ignored Justin Trudeau's claims that the Conservative leader was fraternizing with far-right elements and white nationalists when he visited an anti-carbon tax convoy in the Maritimes last week.

"The leader of the opposi‐ tion refuses to say a simple thing - he condemns Di‐ agolon, white nationalists and violent organizations. These are things that are concerning Canadians that he should answer for," Trudeau said.

It's that line of question‐ ing that prompted Poilievre to call Trudeau a "wacko" yesterday.

Poilievre calmly said what Trudeau was saying Wednes‐ day is "false" and instead used his time to press Trudeau to back B.C.'s re‐ quest to dismantle a pilot project that legalized hard drugs in the province - and refuse a similar request that has been floated by some in Toronto.

WATCH: Poilievre re‐ moved from Commons for defying Speaker's orders

Trudeau said his govern‐ ment is still reviewing B.C.'s call to do away with the fed‐ erally sanctioned program that was designed to reduce overdose-related deaths.

B.C. has decided to go in a different direction because of ongoing public safety con‐ cerns stemming from ram‐ pant drug use in public spaces.

Trudeau needled Poilievre, reminding him at one point that the Speaker had to censure him for his "unparliamentary language" on Tuesday.

He said Poilievre was un‐ fairly using a "huge human tragedy" in B.C. to score polit‐ ical points.

"We take this tragedy seri‐ ously. We act with compas‐ sion," Trudeau said.

Poilievre said it's not com‐ passionate to allow people to smoke meth in hospital rooms or subject public tran‐ sit passengers to hard drug use on the bus.

"This has caused chaos and six British Columbians are dying every day," Poilievre said. "There is no time to waste."

Liberal, Conservative caucuses keep their cool

MPs on both the Liberal and Conservative sides were also quiet.

At one point, when Trudeau attacked Poilievre for not supporting the Liberal government's ban on assaultstyle firearms, Alberta Con‐ servative MP Stephanie Kusie started to heckle him. The party's whip, MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, was seen shushing her to keep the peace.

Speaker Greg Fergus told MPs he hoped to see them "continue in the positive vein," without some of the in‐ flammatory rhetoric that was on display the day before.

Conservative MPs lined up earlier Wednesday to de‐ nounce Fergus for ejecting their leader after he refused to walk back calling the prime minister a "wacko."

Those MPs said Fergus was a "disgrace" and a "parti‐ san" who can't control the House of Commons any longer. They called on him to step aside.

The Speaker's office said he'll do no such thing. "Speaker Fergus has no in‐ tention of resigning," a spokesperson told CBC

News.

Liberal MPs, meanwhile, said Poilievre is the one who behaved badly by thumbing his nose at the Speaker's au‐ thority and insulting the prime minister.

"The leader of the opposi‐ tion needs to stop acting like a child," said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. "Cana‐ dians expect us to work and deliver for them."

"What Canadians saw was basically the true face of Pierre Poilievre," said Indus‐ try Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. "Canadians should be worried - he's will‐ ing to disregard this institu‐ tion."

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Poilievre lashed out at Trudeau because he didn't like the prime minis‐ ter's questions to him about supposedly "cozying up with far-right groups."

Poilievre's "wacko" com‐ ment was a stunt "designed to raise money" and "demon‐ strate to certain elements of his electoral base that he's going to stand by them," Fraser said.

WATCH: Speaker tosses Poilievre from House of Commons

Attitudes were notably dif‐ ferent outside the Conserva‐ tive caucus meeting room as the party's MPs and senators assembled on Parliament Hill to discuss Tuesday's events.

"The Speaker should re‐ sign - he's a disgrace," said Conservative MP Michael

Cooper.

"I never had confidence in the Speaker. He's a Liberal partisan," added MP Scott Aitchison.

In a blog post, Conserva‐ tive MP Michelle Rempel Gar‐ ner said Trudeau was dodg‐ ing legitimate questions about the controversial B.C. decriminalization policy and the Speaker overreacted to Poilievre's language.

"Trudeau's decision to de‐ flect as opposed to explain his policy is brutal, but even worse still was Speaker Fer‐ gus's decision to expel Mr. Poilievre for using an apt and justified term to describe the situation," she wrote.

"Based on today's ques‐ tion period, it's probably fair to say that Mr. Trudeau's gov‐ ernment is f-ed. Bring on the election."

Conservative MP Rick Perkins said Fergus already lost the confidence of what he calls the "real" opposition parties - his party and the Bloc Québécois - when he taped a partisan video in his office wearing his Speaker's robes.

The NDP, which is prop‐ ping up the minority Liberal government, backed Fergus after that incident last year.

NDP MP Peter Julian, the party's House leader, defend‐ ed the Speaker again Wednesday, saying Fergus "absolutely did the right thing" by removing Poilievre from question period.

Bloc Leader Yves-Francois

Blanchet praised Fergus Tuesday and even congratu‐ lated him for "showing com‐ mon sense" and giving Poilievre the boot.

But his party's House leader offered a very differ‐ ent perspective Wednesday.

"Mr. Fergus has had diffi‐ culty maintaining peace in Parliament for a long time," said Bloc MP Alain Therrien.

"We think the Speaker should leave. The recent events confirm that position."

Therrien later said the party wants Fergus gone not because of his handling of Poilievre but because of the partisan video debacle.

During Tuesday's question period, Trudeau called Poilievre "spineless" for re‐ fusing to clearly renounce endorsements from un‐ savoury far-right groups and an American conspiracy the‐ orist.

Poilievre hit back, calling Trudeau a "wacko" for sup‐ porting B.C.'s former 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.

Later, on social media, Poilievre said Fergus was at‐ tempting to shield Trudeau from tough questions about the government's policies on hard drugs.

Mental Health and Addic‐ tions Minister Ya'ara Saks told reporters that Ottawa hasn't decided what to do with B.C.'s request to make il‐ licit drug use illegal in all pub‐ lic spaces.

Saks said the decision about whether to recriminal‐ ize drug use needs to be made swiftly but she's still waiting for more information from the province.

Conservative MP Rachael

Thomas rose in the Com‐ mons after question period claiming that the Speaker's decision to also remove her from the chamber Tuesday was a breach of her parlia‐ mentary privilege.

Thomas called Fergus a "disgrace" Tuesday for not immediately demanding that Trudeau take back his com‐ ment about Poilievre being "spineless."

WATCH: Alberta Conser‐ vative MP kicked out of Commons

Thomas said she with‐ drew the comment when asked and was still kicked out by Fergus. She said her ejec‐ tion unfairly denied her Al‐ berta constituency its voice in Parliament.

Thomas said she spoke the words "I withdraw," a comment that was not recorded in Hansard, the offi‐ cial record of the Commons proceedings.

She suggested the record may have been altered to justify her removal. Fergus vowed to review the matter.