House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus says he expects members of Parliament to behave better than they did last week, when an exchange between two party leaders got so heated one MP thought it may actually come to physical blows.
Fergus says he hopes to have more to say later this week in light of several demands from MPs for more discipline in the House.
“There were words which fall outside of what’s acceptable,” Fergus said before question period Monday.
“There was behaviour which was also outside of the parliamentary traditions.”
His warning comes after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh stepped out from behind his desk to shout at the Conservative leader last Thursday, when Pierre Poilievre called Singh a phoney and a fraud for his refusal to vote to bring down the Liberal government.
The Conservatives insist Singh challenged Poilievre to a fight, while NDP House leader Peter Julian says Singh was merely standing up to bullying from the Tory leader.
“I, for the first time ever sitting in the House, thought, ‘If they get near each other, they’re going to start hitting each other,’” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who sits directly across the aisle from Singh in the House.
“It was uncomfortably close to that, I thought.”
Fergus has so far not sanctioned any MPs or called for any apologies, but instead asked all members to conduct themselves “in a manner that is befitting of our constituents” moving forward.
Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille put forward a motion on Monday calling on members to reaffirm that violence, insults and threats have no place within Parliament, and urging all MPs to behave with civility and respect toward their colleagues.
All MPs in the House at the time voted in support.
Meanwhile, May and Julian have both called on the Speaker to do more to rein in the antics that they say have degraded decorum in the House of Commons.
“The Speaker has lots of powers that can be used to keep decorum, and they’re not used,” May said.
After the exchange last week, Fergus asked the MPs to respect the long-standing traditions of the House but did not ask anyone with withdraw their comments or apologize.
MPs were far more docile during Monday’s question period, which may have had something to do with the fact that Singh was the only party leader in attendance.
On Tuesday, however, the House is expected to debate a Conservative non-confidence motion — the Opposition’s first attempt at taking down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government this fall. The Bloc and NDP have already said they do not support the Tory motion.
