Tory Efforts to Oust Speaker Fergus Fail for Third Time

OTTAWA: The federal Liberals and New Democratic Party (NDP) have accused conservative politicians of a pattern of attacks against the independence of Speakers, an allegation strongly denied by the Conservatives in Ottawa.

The accusation follows the federal Conservatives’ third unsuccessful attempt to force House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus to resign, claiming he is too partisan for the role. Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon asserts that these attempts aim to intimidate and delay House work.

“The fact is that this culture of intimidating the chair is something we have seen in other legislatures and I think Canadians are rightly horrified by it,” said MacKinnon.

NDP House Leader Peter Julian echoed this sentiment, highlighting a “disturbing undercurrent” among conservatives in Ottawa and Saskatchewan who target independent institutions, with Speakers being the latest focus.

Julian connected the situation to Saskatchewan by linking former Saskatchewan Party House Leader Jeremy Harrison to federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Both were elected to Parliament as Conservatives in 2004. Harrison, who served one term in Ottawa before losing in 2006, was elected provincially in 2007.

Julian charged that while Poilievre undermines the Speaker in Ottawa, Harrison does the same in Regina, pointing to a pattern of behavior.

On May 16, Saskatchewan Speaker Randy Weekes accused several Saskatchewan Party members and staff, including Harrison, of intimidation through harassing text messages about his rulings. Weekes, an elected Saskatchewan Party MLA who briefly served in the cabinet, noted that speakers do not typically sit with their party caucuses after assuming the chair.

Weekes also revealed that Harrison once sought permission to bring a gun into the legislature. Harrison initially denied the allegation but resigned last week after admitting he had forgotten about the incident, which occurred over a decade ago.

“The disturbing undercurrent, as we see in Saskatchewan and here, is attacks on independent institutions,” Julian said. “And this isn’t something we’ve seen before from Conservatives, but since Mr. Poilievre has become leader, we’re seeing this more and more.”

Sebastian Skamski, a spokesperson for Poilievre, dismissed Julian’s connection. “This is something that happened in the Saskatchewan Legislature regarding an entirely different party and has nothing to do with the Parliament of Canada and its Liberal Speaker or the Conservative Party of Canada,” said Skamski. “This is just another pathetic, desperate attempt by the coalition NDP to distract and play defense for Justin Trudeau and their Liberal masters.”

The Conservatives argue that Fergus has demonstrated bias, including ejecting Poilievre from the House of Commons last month for refusing to retract a comment calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “wacko.” Fergus faced a $1,500 fine and had to apologize after delivering a partisan tribute to an outgoing interim Liberal leader in Ontario on a video played at the party’s leadership convention.

Earlier this month, the Liberals apologized to Fergus after an event invitation in his riding was posted with language attacking the Conservatives. They claimed the invite was posted by a party staffer using boilerplate terms by mistake and subsequently replaced.

This incident prompted a Tory motion to oust Fergus, which failed on Tuesday when the Liberals and NDP voted against it.