Politics
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is being asked to investigate whether a Conservative MP made homophobic comments involving the prime minister on the floor of the House of Commons Wednesday.
Speaker Greg Fergus is being asked to find out who said what
Catharine Tunney · CBC News
· Posted: Sep 25, 2024 5:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Trudeau accuses Conservatives of making ‘homophobic comments’ in question periodHouse Speaker Greg Fergus asks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to withdraw his statement that the Liberals are ‘used to casual homophobic comments from the other side’ of the House of Commons. After being asked again by Fergus, Trudeau says he withdraws his use of the word ‘crap.’
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is being asked to investigate whether a Conservative MP made homophobic comments involving the prime minister on the floor of the House of Commons Wednesday.
The incident, which tipped an already rowdy question period into an all-out yelling match, started with a question from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre about the government’s controversial purchase of a luxury apartment for its consul general in New York.
While listing off features of the condo, including “a handcrafted copper soaking tub,” Poilievre asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if he visited Consul General Tom Clark at the new residence on his recent trip to the U.S.
Not long after Poilievre asked that question, a voice was heard making a comment about a bathtub that received a loud laugh.
The House of Commons’ video showed it to be Garnett Genuis, a Conservative MP, but the microphones didn’t pick up the full comment.
A few moments later, a second voice was heard asking, “Did Tom get the top bunk?”
When Fergus called on MPs to stop speaking out of turn, Trudeau quipped, “We’re used to casual homophobic comments from the other side of the House.”
The House then erupted in shouted demands for the prime minister to be kicked out for unparliamentary language.
Fergus said he heard a comment but could not tell who made it. While pleading with MPs to “treat each other with the presumption of honour and respect,” he asked Trudeau to withdraw his comment.
“Standing up to bullies requires us to call them out on their crap sometimes and that’s what I will do,” Trudeau responded.
“I will happily withdraw my comment if the member who suggested that I was sharing a bathtub with Tom Clark stands up, takes responsibility.”
Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)After another round of yelling and calls to “kick him out,” Trudeau withdrew what he characterized as his “comment about defecating.”
Fergus then allowed Trudeau to continue with his response to the original question.
Right after question period, NDP MP Blake Desjarlais rose on a point of order to ask Fergus to review the recording of what he called a “derogatory, homophobic and cowardly” comment coming from the Conservative benches.
Fergus said he would consider Desjarlais’ request and get back to the chamber if “this is necessary.”
Earlier this year, Poilievre was kicked out of the House of Commons came after he called Trudeau a “wacko” for supporting B.C.’s past policy of decriminalizing some hard drugs in an attempt to reduce the number of overdose-related deaths.
Sebastian Skamski, a spokesperson for the Conservatives, said a Conservative MP rightly questioned how a “handcrafted copper soaking tub” could be needed to conduct diplomatic meetings.
“Of course there is no justification for wasting taxpayer dollars on these luxury features and the prime minister was clearly lying to gin up fake outrage to distract Canadians from this colossal waste of money,” he said in a media statement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catharine Tunney is a reporter with CBC’s Parliament Hill bureau, where she covers national security and the RCMP. She worked previously for CBC in Nova Scotia. You can reach her at catharine.tunney@cbc.ca
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