Fergus rejects calls for his resignation
Some Tory MPs take issue with Speaker’s ejection of party leader for ‘wacko’ remark in question period
The House of Commons was like a mausoleum during question period on Wednesday — at least compared to the scene that played out one day earlier, when Conservative MPs walked out in disgust after their leader was ejected for calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “wacko” and refusing to withdraw the remark.
MPs on both sides of the aisle returned with an unusual show of restraint. There were just a few scattered chuckles and heckles at political opponents on Wednesday, which was a sharp contrast to the deluge of interruptions and hollering that has become routine in Canada’s seat of democracy. At one point, when a bevy of Liberals groaned while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was describing the government’s drug decriminalization policies, Trudeau raised a hand to quiet them down.
“Guys, guys,” he said.
The tone-shift was all the more stark for what had occurred only 24 hours earlier, and for the tenor of some of the remarks that continued outside the chamber on Wednesday. Several Conservative MPs told reporters they had lost confidence in House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus and that he should step down — something the Speaker’s office rejected in a terse statement that he has “no intention” of leaving the post as the official arbiter of proceedings in the Commons.
“He should resign. He’s a disgrace,” said Michael Cooper, the Conservative MP for St. Albert— Edmonton.
Manitoba MP Rick Perkins said the Conservatives haven’t had faith in Fergus since January, when they joined the Bloc Québécois in voting for him to step down after Fergus appeared wearing in his Speaker’s robes in a partisan video that paid tribute to the outgoing interim leader of the Ontario Liberals.
Fergus apologized for the video and repaid the parliamentary resources used to make it.
“Several months ago, he lost the confidence of the opposition then. He certainly lost it yesterday,” Perkins said.
Scott Aitchison, the Conservative MP for Parry Sound—Muskoka, went further, stating simply that he “never did have confidence” in Fergus as Speaker.
Alongside the Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois’s Alain Therrien confirmed his party also believes Fergus should resign, even though the Bloc agreed with his ruling to eject Poilievre on Tuesday.
“It’s completely crazy,” Therrien told reporters in French, referring to how the Conservatives and Liberals used the incident to try and raise money from their supporters. Describing tensions in the House as a “circus,” Therrien called for calm and said it’s remarkable that the Bloc — a party that wants Quebec to separate from Canada — is being the most respectful of the federal parliament.
Others, meanwhile, expressed confidence in Fergus, including NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who himself was booted from the Commons in 2020 for calling another MP racist.
But Singh drew a sharp contrast between that incident and Poilievre, alleging the Conservative leader was acting like a “coward” in the wake of his own ejection. Poilievre has alleged falsely that he was “censored” for opposing Trudeau’s drug policies, when in fact he was ejected for refusing to withdraw his statement calling Trudeau a “wacko.”
“This is what a bully does: tries to be a bully, but when confronted is a coward and runs away,” Singh said. “I did it very differently. I took my lumps and moved on. I didn’t tell my whole caucus to leave the chamber. We continued to do our job and hold the government to account.”
The incident occurred during question period on Tuesday.
Poilievre’s ‘wacko’ comment to the prime minister came after an escalating exchange, where Poilievre challenged the Liberal government’s plan to combat the crisis of overdose deaths. Trudeau dodged the comments and turned attention to Poilievre’s support from the likes of an extremist organization and a known conspiracy theorist