Parliamentary potty-mouths make noise in House
OTTAWA — The excrement was hitting everything but the fan on Wednesday as members of Parliament hurled insults and swore at each other in the House of Commons.
The exchanges marked a new high — or low — in parliamentary conduct and served to highlight the extreme emotions and partisanship that has swept the federal political scene over the past few months.
In a particularly heated question period session, House Speaker Andrew Scheer could barely keep control as members of the government and opposition went after each other.
When Environment Minister Peter Kent chided opposition parties for not attending the latest international climate change conference in South Africa, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau called him a "piece of sh--."
Trudeau later apologized and asked that his remarks be stricken from the record, but only after noting that the Conservative government had forcefully prevented opposition parties from attending the conference.
"Peter Kent and the government, in contrast to all parliamentary tradition going back 20 years, had refused to allow any members of the opposition to attend the Durban conference," he said. "This is a tradition that goes back 20 years of bringing multiple voices to a conference. He did not, they did not."
The NDP also got in on the act. At one point, Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, in response to a question about cuts to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, asked whether he looked like a bully, to which New Democrat MP Ryan Cleary responded: "Yes sir, your department and you, sir, are a bully."
Cleary initially refused to apologize, prompting a furor from the Conservative side and a rebuke from the Speaker. Cleary eventually relented and withdrew his remark.
The Conservatives weren't virginal in their conduct.
During one exchange, Government House leader Peter Van Loan called attention to interim Liberal leader Bob Rae's absence from the House on Wednesday, saying that he had "checked out early."
Parliamentary tradition discourages discussing the absence of MPs as members are often drawn away from the House for parliamentary business.
But Van Loan refused to apologize.
"(On Tuesday, Rae) held his end-of-session news conference and availability session," Van Loan said. "He was summarizing the end of the session and the session had not yet ended."
University of Ottawa political science expert Michael Behiels said there is no doubt the Conservatives are responsible for the explosions of anger by continuing to press and to heckle and to try to undermine opposition parties at every opportunity despite having a majority government.
"And I think the opposition has its back against the wall and doesn't know what to do," he said. "Not a single opposition amendment has been accepted. Everything they try to do is basically laughed at, dismissed. So the opposition MPs have had it, and it's just pouring out."
Behiels predicted this pattern would continue for the foreseeable future.
"Harper's won his majority after 20 years (of) fighting for it and he's basically decided he's going to stick it in the opposition's faces at every opportunity," he said. "They just cannot let up with this sort of mentality."
The vulgarity wasn't limited only to the House on Wednesday.
Rae had started things off in a Twitter exchange with one of former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's policy advisers.
Adam Goldenberg had written about a public spat that has erupted between two prominent Toronto-area young Liberals, among other things and the fact former prime minister Jean Chretien had written a letter warning Canadians the Conservatives will target abortion and gay rights.
"Young Liberals attacking each other in the press," Goldenberg wrote. "Chretien warning about hidden agendas. Rae, (U.S. Republic presidential contender Newt) Gingrich, Kyoto . . . Um, what decade is this?"
In response, Rae wrote a terse: "What bullsh-- is this?"
The exchange was quickly spread across the Twitter-verse, with many recalling New Democrat MP Pat Martin's vitriol-charged tweeting in November, in which he unleashed an attack on the Conservative government's move to limit debate on the budget bill.
OTTAWA — The excrement was hitting everything but the fan on Wednesday as members of Parliament hurled insults and swore at each other in the House of Commons.
The exchanges marked a new high — or low — in parliamentary conduct and served to highlight the extreme emotions and partisanship that has swept the federal political scene over the past few months.
In a particularly heated question period session, House Speaker Andrew Scheer could barely keep control as members of the government and opposition went after each other.
When Environment Minister Peter Kent chided opposition parties for not attending the latest international climate change conference in South Africa, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau called him a "piece of sh--."
Trudeau later apologized and asked that his remarks be stricken from the record, but only after noting that the Conservative government had forcefully prevented opposition parties from attending the conference.
"Peter Kent and the government, in contrast to all parliamentary tradition going back 20 years, had refused to allow any members of the opposition to attend the Durban conference," he said. "This is a tradition that goes back 20 years of bringing multiple voices to a conference. He did not, they did not."
The NDP also got in on the act. At one point, Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, in response to a question about cuts to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, asked whether he looked like a bully, to which New Democrat MP Ryan Cleary responded: "Yes sir, your department and you, sir, are a bully."
Cleary initially refused to apologize, prompting a furor from the Conservative side and a rebuke from the Speaker. Cleary eventually relented and withdrew his remark.
The Conservatives weren't virginal in their conduct.
During one exchange, Government House leader Peter Van Loan called attention to interim Liberal leader Bob Rae's absence from the House on Wednesday, saying that he had "checked out early."
Parliamentary tradition discourages discussing the absence of MPs as members are often drawn away from the House for parliamentary business.
But Van Loan refused to apologize.
"(On Tuesday, Rae) held his end-of-session news conference and availability session," Van Loan said. "He was summarizing the end of the session and the session had not yet ended."
University of Ottawa political science expert Michael Behiels said there is no doubt the Conservatives are responsible for the explosions of anger by continuing to press and to heckle and to try to undermine opposition parties at every opportunity despite having a majority government.
"And I think the opposition has its back against the wall and doesn't know what to do," he said. "Not a single opposition amendment has been accepted. Everything they try to do is basically laughed at, dismissed. So the opposition MPs have had it, and it's just pouring out."
Behiels predicted this pattern would continue for the foreseeable future.
"Harper's won his majority after 20 years (of) fighting for it and he's basically decided he's going to stick it in the opposition's faces at every opportunity," he said. "They just cannot let up with this sort of mentality."
The vulgarity wasn't limited only to the House on Wednesday.
Rae had started things off in a Twitter exchange with one of former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's policy advisers.
Adam Goldenberg had written about a public spat that has erupted between two prominent Toronto-area young Liberals, among other things and the fact former prime minister Jean Chretien had written a letter warning Canadians the Conservatives will target abortion and gay rights.
"Young Liberals attacking each other in the press," Goldenberg wrote. "Chretien warning about hidden agendas. Rae, (U.S. Republic presidential contender Newt) Gingrich, Kyoto . . . Um, what decade is this?"
In response, Rae wrote a terse: "What bullsh-- is this?"
The exchange was quickly spread across the Twitter-verse, with many recalling New Democrat MP Pat Martin's vitriol-charged tweeting in November, in which he unleashed an attack on the Conservative government's move to limit debate on the budget bill.
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