With a confidence vote looming, debate in the House of Commons devolved on Wednesday into a heated exchange of accusations, seeing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggest Conservative MPs made “casual homophobic comments.”
The fracas began when Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre referred to the now-infamous $9-million New York City condo the Canadian government purchased to serve as consul general Tom Clark’s official residence.
“Did the Prime Minister go and inspect this palace in the sky on this recent trip to New York,” Poilievre asked, after citing features of the condo, including a “stunning powder room” and “a handcrafted copper soaking tub.”
Trudeau then responded, saying “engaging with international leaders on fighting climate change, on solving global crises, on standing up unequivocally for Ukraine,” before his mic is cut off by the Speaker who rose to address ongoing heckling.
It’s unclear who says what during the interruption, but the word “bathtub” can be heard, followed by the sound of some MPs laughing.
House Speaker Greg Fergus then calls MPs to order and asks them “to please not take the floor unless they’re recognized by this speaker.”
“Mr. Speaker,” the prime minister continues, “don’t worry. On this side of the House, we’re used to casual homophobic comments from the other side of the House.”
That prompted loud complaints and more heckling from the Conservatives, a standing ovation from the Liberals and another intervention from Fergus, who said while he “heard comments,” he didn’t intervene because he wasn’t sure who said them.
He asked MPs to “treat each other with the presumption of honour and respect” before asking Trudeau to withdraw his comment.
“Mr. Speaker, standing up to bullies requires us to call them out on their crap sometimes,” Trudeau says, before once again being interrupted by Fergus.
“Mr. Speaker, I will happily withdraw my comment if the member who suggested that I was sharing a bathtub with Tom Clark stands up, takes responsibility,” Trudeau then says, before Fergus cuts him off again.
Fergus said he was not able to “hear or track the source of that statement” before reiterating his request that the prime minister “be the better person” and withdraw his comment.
Trudeau then rose and said he withdrew “the comment about defecating,” acknowledging that using the word “crap” was “unparliamentary.”
Nearly a half hour later, following the conclusion of question period, NDP MP Blake Desjarlais — who made history in 2021 as Canada’s first openly two-spirit member of Parliament — raised a point of order, calling on Fergus to “review the tapes and come back with a ruling.”
“During question period, we clearly heard a very derogatory, homophobic and cowardly comment coming from the Conservative benches, directed at the prime minister,” Desjarlais said. “Clearly, Conservative MPs heard it, because many of them started to laugh. I have listened to the feed on ParlVu, and we can hear the remark.”
Fergus said he will “take it under advisement and come back to the House, if this is necessary.”
You can watch the exchange in its entirety in the video player at the top of this article.
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Hanes and Rachel Aiello