OTTAWA — The House of Commons erupted in pandemonium Wednesday as opposition MPs angrily accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of "manhandling" the Conservative whip and elbowing a female NDP MP in the chest prior to a key vote.
Quebec MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau said she was so shocked by the encounter, she had to leave the chamber as mayhem descended on the Commons floor, with Trudeau at one point in a face-to-face encounter with NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, MPs scrumming around them like kids witnessing a schoolyard tussle.
The incident — coming amid the superheated atmosphere of the doctor-assisted death debate — had MPs in an uproar as they shouted and pounded their desks in a display of antipathy rarely seen in the parliamentary chamber.
Reporters scrambled to witness the unfolding drama Parliament Hill, where political staffers exchanged their respective versions of events, even pantomiming their blow-by-blow accounts as they shared stories in the foyer.
Footage from the Commons television feed showed Trudeau wading into a clutch of MPs, mostly New Democrats, and pulling Opposition whip Gordon Brown through the crowd in an effort to get the vote started — a no-no in parliamentary procedure.
As Trudeau turns around to pull Brown through, Brosseau comes into view, discomfort evident on her face as Trudeau pushes past her, forcing her against an adjacent desk.
"I was standing in the centre talking to some colleagues," Brosseau told the House after calm was restored. "I was elbowed in the chest by the prime minister and then I had to leave."
My intervention in the House yesterday was not appropriate, and shouldn’t have happened.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 19, 2016
"It was very overwhelming and so I left the chamber to go and sit in the lobby. I missed the vote because of this."
New Democrat Peter Julian could barely contain his outrage, saying he'd never seen such behaviour in his 12 years in the House.
Trudeau issued an abject apology, even amid the catcalls and protests of the opposition benches, saying he was just trying to help the opposition whip get to his seat.
He never intended to hurt anyone, Trudeau insisted.
"I took it upon myself to go and assist him forward, which was I now see unadvisable as a course of action," said Trudeau, who characterized his actions as "unacceptable."
"I apologize for that unreservedly and I look for opportunities to make amends."
I apologize to my colleagues, to the House as a whole, and to you, Mr. Speaker, for failing to live up to a higher standard of behaviour.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 19, 2016
Not good enough, Julian later complained. "He should have known that what he did was absolutely inappropriate."
Trudeau's apology was followed by a lengthy parade of indignant MPs getting up to express their outrage to the Speaker, describing a scene unlike anything they'd ever seen before in all their years as politicians.
At one point, Trudeau left to attend a photo-op with B.C. Premier Christy Clark and a reception for guests who were on hand for a different apology: Parliament saying sorry for the Komagata Maru incident off the B.C. coast in 1914.
During the former event, Trudeau looked serious and shaken as he rushed through a statement of welcome directed at Clark. For her part, Clark said he never mentioned the incident.
During the evening reception, Trudeau apologized to an audience of Sikhs for taking the spotlight away from the Komagata Maru.
"I'm going to apologize again for an incident in the House this evening that might take away a little bit in the news tomorrow, and for some people, the extraordinary celebration that today is, and the important momentous occasion that this day represents, not just in the story of Sikh and southeast Asian Canadians, but in the story of this country," he said.
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs will review the incident, and I am fully prepared to accept its decision.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 19, 2016
"For that, I truly regret."
Tempers ran high in the Commons all week as the government pushed through a motion to limit debate on its controversial assisted-dying legislation, Bill C-14. It was that motion the members were gathered to vote on before the confrontation took place.
Speaker Geoff Regan could barely make himself heard as he tried to read the text of the motion on C-14. It was defeated by a margin of 172-137, although Brosseau wasn't able to register her vote.
The acrimony was likely spillover from Wednesday, when the Liberals revealed their unpopular plan to change parliamentary procedures — an effort to wrest greater control over how and when things are done in the House of Commons, and stifle political gamesmanship.
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, who sits directly across from Trudeau in the House, said he believes Trudeau became angry with the time it was taking for the vote to get underway.
"It was just so clear that he lost his temper," Scheer later said, noting that the party whips usually wait a few seconds for MPs to get to their seats before beginning their procedural march into the chamber.
"He just popped up and ran over," Scheer said.
"I could tell it was motivated by anger and by having lost his temper. It was very, very unfortunate."
Remember when Elizabeth May got heckled while calling for less heckling?
— Green Party Canada (@CanadianGreens) May 19, 2016
Things are getting worse. #elbowgatehttps://t.co/tDGNAaactA
Green party Leader Elizabeth May, whose seat in the House gave her a ringside seat for the encounter, called for calm at one point — and suggested that the NDP MPs may have been milling about on the floor in order to delay the vote.
"There was some mischief; let's face it; there was an attempt to slow down the vote, but it was innocent mischief," May said to catcalls from her fellow opposition MPs.
"It was most unwise of the prime minister to attempt to move along the vote. But the second contact with my friend (Brosseau), which is certainly the one that was the most emotional for the member involved, was clearly, from my perspective ... unintentional."
She added: "He had not seen her behind him. That is the truth. Now you can like it or not like it, but nothing that happened here today reflects well on us."
The Speaker concluded there was a prima facie case that Brosseau's privileges as an MP had been breached, which means the encounter will be examined by an all-party committee.
CONTRITE PRIME MINISTER DELIVERS ANOTHER APOLOGY FOR PHYSICAL FRACAS IN COMMONS
OTTAWA — A contrite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized yet again Thursday for a physical encounter with two opposition MPs that touched off an unprecedented fracas on the floor of the House of Commons.
Trudeau rose in the House to apologize to all MPs, the Speaker and also Ruth Ellen Brosseau, with whom he collided on Wednesday while trying to hurry Conservative whip Gord Brown to his seat.
"I sincerely apologize to my colleagues, to the House as a whole and to you, Mr. Speaker, for failing to live up to a higher standard of behaviour," Trudeau told a rapt Commons as the shockwaves from the scene continued to reverberate.
"Members, rightfully, expect better behaviour from anyone in this House. I expect better behaviour of myself."
"I apologize for crossing the floor," Trudeau said. "That intervention was not appropriate, it was not my role and it should not have happened."
Trudeau also directly addressed Brosseau, saying he failed to live up to the standard of behaviour to which all MPs should adhere, and that there was no excuse for what he did.
"The way that members behave in this House is important," he said.
"It is important because we are here to serve Canadians, and Canadians deserve to have their concerns expressed fully and fairly in a direct and dignified manner. I know, and I regret that my behaviour yesterday failed to meet this standard."
Trudeau said repeatedly that he made a mistake — "poor choices," he called it — and that he wants to make amends.
The unprecedented scene erupted Wednesday in the House when Trudeau pulled Conservative whip Gord Brown through a clutch of New Democrat MPs to hurry up a vote related to doctor-assisted dying.
Footage from the Commons television feed showed Trudeau wading into a clutch of MPs, mostly New Democrats, and pulling Opposition whip Gordon Brown through the crowd in an effort to get a key vote started.
In doing so, he appeared to collide with Quebec MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, who reacted with visible discomfort Trudeau pushed past her, forcing her against an adjacent desk.
"It is troubling we are having this debate; what happened last night was very unsettling for everyone in this chamber," said interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose.
"It is troubling, but it is our duty to have this debate if we take seriously our obligations to uphold the respect for one another required in this House to our jobs. The prime minister's behaviour in the House last night was a violation of that respect. His behaviour was unbecoming of a leader who has the privilege — and let's never forget it is a privilege — bestowed on him by the people of Canada to sit as a prime minister in this place."
Conservative MP Peter Kent went so far as to suggest that Trudeau's actions were in contempt of Parliament.
NDP MP Tracey Ramsey told the Commons in the immediate aftermath of the incident that Trudeau uttered a profanity as he approached her caucus colleagues standing in front of Brown.
"He said, 'Get the bleep out of the way,'" Ramsey said in the House. An NDP source who spoke to Ramsey afterwards confirmed the MP had heard Trudeau say "get the f--- out of my way."
Brosseau said she was shocked by the encounter.
"I was standing in the centre talking to some colleagues," Brosseau told the House after calm was restored. "I was elbowed in the chest by the prime minister and then I had to leave.
"It was very overwhelming and so I left the chamber to go and sit in the lobby. I missed the vote because of this."
The incident — coming amid the superheated atmosphere of the doctor-assisted death debate — had MPs in an uproar as they shouted and pounded their desks in a display of antipathy rarely seen in the parliamentary chamber.
Tempers ran high in the Commons all week as the government pushed through a motion to limit debate on its controversial assisted-dying legislation, Bill C-14. It was that motion the members were gathered to vote on before the confrontation took place.
Speaker Geoff Regan could barely make himself heard as he tried to read the text of the motion on C-14. It was defeated by a margin of 172-137, although Brosseau wasn't able to register her vote.
The acrimony was likely spillover from Wednesday, when the Liberals revealed their unpopular plan to change parliamentary procedures — an effort to wrest greater control over how and when things are done in the House of Commons, and stifle political gamesmanship.
The Speaker concluded there was a prima facie case that Brosseau's privileges as an MP had been breached, which means the encounter will be examined by an all-party committee.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU TO ADDRESS HOUSE OF COMMONS OVER DUST-UP
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will address the House of Commons this morning after Wednesday's dust-up in the parliamentary chamber.
The Prime Minister's Office says Trudeau is scheduled to speak at 10:40 a.m.
Trudeau touched off a firestorm Wednesday in the House when he pulled Conservative whip Gord Brown through a clutch of New Democrat MPs to hurry up a vote related to doctor-assisted dying.
NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau said Trudeau elbowed her in the chest and that she was forced to leave the House of Commons and miss the vote as a result.
Trudeau apologized Wednesday, calling the encounter an accident.
Speaker Geoff Regan concluded there was a prima facie case that Brosseau's privileges as an MP had been breached, which means the encounter will be examined by an all-party committee.
SOME OF WHAT WAS SAID ABOUT WEDNESDAY'S SCUFFLE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
OTTAWA — Just some of what was said in the uproar that seized the House of Commons on Wednesday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau elbowed an NDP member of Parliament in the chest during a brief scuffle with MPs.
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"I was standing in the centre talking to some colleagues. I was elbowed in the chest by the prime minister and then I had to leave. It was very overwhelming and so I left the chamber to go and sit in the lobby. I missed the vote because of this." — New Democrat Ruth Ellen Brosseau, MP for the Quebec riding of Berthier-Maskinonge.
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"I want to take the opportunity, now that the member is OK to return to the House right now, to be able to express directly to her my apologies for my behaviour and my actions, unreservedly." — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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"I apologize for that unreservedly and I look for opportunities to make amends directly to the member and to any members who feel negatively impacted by this exchange and intervention because I take responsibility." — Trudeau.
"Prime Minister Trudeau's behaviour today was shocking. He demonstrated a complete lack of respect for members of the House of Commons, and for Parliament. His clear intent was to intimidate Members physically and his actions resulted in my NDP colleague Ruth Ellen Brosseau being shoved into a desk. She was clearly shaken up." — Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose.
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"I saw the prime minister — I would use the word 'charge' across the floor with intent and shove people, with the intent of moving the whip down the aisle, an intentional action by the prime minister which is unacceptable in the House of Commons. ... As part of doing that he knocked one of my colleagues into the desk." — New Democrat MP Randall Garrison.
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"It was most unwise of the prime minister to attempt to move along the vote ... but the second contact with my friend, the member for Berthier-Maskinonge, which is certainly the one that was the most emotional for the member involved, was clearly, from my perspective ... unintentional." — Green party Leader Elizabeth May.
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"I have to say that I saw the prime minister approaching and following the honourable member, trying to reach her and saying how very sorry he was. He had not seen her behind him. That is the truth. Now you can like it or not like it." — May.
"What I witnessed was the prime minister striding across and coming to the group that was gathered and blocking the way of the opposition House leader. As he strode across, the group moved apart and he reached through and moved the House leader through. At the point that he did, he did bump into another member. I believe there was no intent to harm anyone or to actually bump into any one." — Liberal MP Deb Schulte.
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"I am ashamed, as somebody who sits in this House, to have been witness to the person who holds the highest position in our country, the highest elected position, to have done such an act in this House." — NDP MP Niki Ashton.
