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Liberal MP Greg Fergus, Speaker of the House of Commons, has already had to apologize for perceived Liberal bias and on Tuesday he raised new concerns about whether he’s capable of impartiality in his duties.
On Tuesday, Fergus revealed he apparently believes it’s not unparliamentary for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to accuse Conservative leader of Pierre Poilievre of courting racists, but it is unparliamentary for Poilievre to call Trudeau a “wacko” pursuing “wacko” policies in response.
Fergus threw Poilievre out of the Commons after rejecting his substitutions of the word “extremist” to describe Trudeau and his policies as “radical.”
But he did nothing to Trudeau, who started the bitter exchange with Poilievre when he asked whether Trudeau would grant the request of B.C.’s NDP government to re-criminalize the use of street drugs in public places in that province.
Trudeau ignored the question, accusing Poilievre of “actively courting the support of groups with white nationalist views,” demanding he apologize.
Poilievre responded: “I always condemn extremism and racism, including from the guy who spent the first half of his adult life as a practising racist, dressing up in hideous, racist costumes so many times he can’t remember them all.”
Fergus intervened, saying Poilievre, “knows that to make an accusation directly at the character of a single person is not appropriate and I am going to ask all members to control themselves.”
With that, Conservative MPs erupted at what they saw as Fergus’ double standard regarding the conduct of Trudeau vs Poilievre.
Fergus eventually threw Conservative MP Rachael Thomas out after she said he was “acting in a disgraceful manner” by not admonishing Trudeau for calling Poilievre “spineless.”
Fergus asked Trudeau to reframe his question, “in a way that does not call into the character of an individual member of parliament (sic)” whereupon Trudeau repeated his accusation that Poilievre was appealing to racists.
Fergus said nothing about that, but threw Poilievre out of the Commons — Conservative MPs also left — for responding to Trudeau, calling him a “wacko prime minister” who approved a “wacko policy” when he initially granted B.C. the authority to decriminalize street drugs.