Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was banned from speaking in the House of Commons for using unparliamentary language for a third time, a move his party dismissed as partisanship while the Liberals dismissed him as a hypocrite.
Speaker Greg Fergus ruled Tuesday morning that if Mr. Poilievre didn’t withdraw an allegation that Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly “continues to pander to Hamas supporters,” he wouldn’t be called upon to speak for the balance of the day, a punishment that Mr. Fergus issued after noting that Mr. Poilievre had been punished twice previously for similar infractions.
Mr. Poilievre did not attend Question Period Tuesday, leaving his deputy leader Melissa Lantsman to lead off questioning the government, and his office had no comment on the sanction.
The contentious remark came during a heated exchange on Monday during Question Period after Ms. Joly refused Mr. Poilievre’s demand to denounce the slogans “from Palestine to Lebanon, Israel will soon be gone,” and “there is only one solution: intifada, revolution.”
The chants are sometimes heard at anti-Israel events, and protesters have argued they are political calls for freedom for Palestinians. Mr. Poilievre and others say they are antisemitic in their calls for the end of the state of Israel.
In response to Mr. Poilievre’s question, Ms. Joly read eight names of the Canadian victims of Hamas’s attack on Israel and called Monday, the one-year anniversary of the attack, a time to honour their memories.
Mr. Poilievre continued to try to get her to denounce the slogans, and when she didn’t, he then asserted “she continues to pander to Hamas supporters” as part of her Liberal Party leadership ambitions. Ms. Joly is among those believed to be interested in the leadership position when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau departs. She immediately called on Mr. Poilievre to apologize.
Mr. Fergus had initially said Mr. Poilievre must withdraw the remark at the earliest opportunity, noting the instance was similar to one in which an MP had accused Mr. Poilievre himself of similar behaviour and was asked to withdraw.
As for Mr. Poilievre, Mr. Fergus noted it was the third time Mr. Poilievre had disregarded requests to withdraw unparliamentary language. The first time, Mr. Poilievre was asked to leave the chamber. The second time, Mr. Fergus docked the number of questions the party could ask.
This, Mr. Fergus said, was the third strike. Mr. Poilievre is an experienced MP well-versed in practice and procedure, Mr. Fergus said.
“He knows that in our system, the role of the Leader of the Opposition is to ask questions to the ministry, to ensure it is held accountable for its actions and to challenge its decisions,” Mr. Fergus said in the written text of his ruling.
“His role is not to make the government comfortable, quite the contrary, but his actions must also be exercised within the existing boundaries of parliamentary decorum.”
Conservative MPs declined to comment on the punishment as they filed out of the chamber on Tuesday, but the party itself moved swiftly to leverage it into a way to rally supporters.
Calling Mr. Fergus’s decision a “blatant assault on democracy,” a letter to party supporters said it was further proof of the Speaker’s bias – he is a Liberal MP, though is supposed to remain neutral.
“They are so scared of Pierre Poilievre that they banned him from doing his job – holding Justin Trudeau and the corrupt Liberals to account,” read the e-mail blast, which encouraged supporters to sign a petition calling on MPs to express non-confidence in Mr. Fergus.
Speaking with reporters ahead of Question Period Tuesday, Ms. Joly called Mr. Poilievre a hypocrite, accusing him of claiming to fight antisemitism but being silent about instances of it amongst his own supporters or caucus members.
As examples, she cited the Nazi flag being flown during the Freedom Convoy protests and his own MPs meeting with a far-right European politician last year but being allowed to remain in caucus.
“Pierre Poilievre is about double standards and he’s about himself, his own political gain and ultimately he’s unfit to govern this country,” she said.
When asked, in French, why she didn’t just condemn the slogans, Ms. Joly said she had, citing her condemnation of Hamas and sanctions the government imposed upon it.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to quote Pierre Poilievre more fully. He alleged that Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly continues to “pander to Hamas supporters.”