House Speaker Greg Fergus says he doesn’t intend to resign, despite two opposition parties calling for him to step down.
Both the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois say they want Fergus to resign for appearing in a video shown at the Ontario Liberal leadership convention last weekend.
In the video, Fergus paid tribute to former Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser. The video was recorded in the Speaker’s office while Fergus was wearing his Speaker’s robes.
House of Commons Speaker ‘will not be resigning’ over Liberal video
As the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois call for him to step down for appearing in a video played at the Ontario Liberal leadership convention, Speaker Greg Fergus tells CBC’s Katie Simpson in Washington, D.C., that he won’t resign, saying he plans to demonstrate fairness and impartiality.
MPs spent a chunk of time Tuesday afternoon debating the wording of a motion that would refer the issue to committee. The motion itself is likely to pass as the four major parties have all said they support the idea.
Fergus said he intends to allow that process to play out.
“There’s a process that’s been set out by the House and we’ll follow that process,” Fergus told CBC News on Tuesday night.
Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer, who put forward the motion, said again Tuesday his party thinks Fergus needs to step down.
“We’ve made our position very clear. At this point, I don’t see how the Speaker can stay on,” Scheer said. “Until he makes his own decision, we have to use the existing tools that are there for us.”
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Tuesday that Fergus “failed” to maintain his impartiality by appearing in the video.
“He cannot stay,” Blanchet told reporters. “It should be fixed as soon as possible for it not to become a distraction in Parliament.”
Asked how he can continue in the job when two opposition parties say they’ve lost confidence in his impartiality, Fergus said he’s committed to demonstrating “fairness.”
“The best way to do it is to show them and to demonstrate fairness and impartiality in getting the job done,” he said.
Before the motion was debated Tuesday, Government House Leader Karina Gould said she has confidence in Fergus. After the motion was tabled, a spokesperson for Gould’s office later said the government supports the issue being studied at committee.
MPs are scheduled to vote Wednesday on a proposed Conservative amendment to the motion that would see the committee report back by mid-December. After that vote, they will continue debating the main issue. It’s not clear how long that will take.
Fergus in Washington for pre-planned trip
Fergus spoke to CBC from Washintgon, where he is taking part in a pre-planned trip.
A spokesperson for Fergus’s office confirmed to CBC News that the trip had been planned for “weeks” and that he would be meeting with diplomats and elected officials. Fergus has recused himself from overseeing any debate related to his video.
On Monday, Fergus apologized for the fact that the video was used at a partisan event, but maintained that it was meant to be a tribute to a friend of more than 30 years. He said he was told the video would be played during an “intimate party.”
MPs debate whether House Speaker broke the rules as opposition call for his resignation
Opposition MPs are forcing a debate and a vote on whether House Speaker Greg Fergus should face consequences over a tribute video he made for outgoing interim Ontario Liberal leader John Fraser. Fergus made the video in the Speaker’s chamber and in the traditional Speaker’s robes. The Power Panel weighs in on whether Fergus broke political impartiality rules as the issue takes over the government’s agenda.
At Queen’s Park on Monday, Fraser told reporters there was a miscommunication with Fergus’s office over when the video would be played.
Fergus was elected Speaker in early October after his predecessor, Liberal MP Anthony Rota, stepped down amid controversy.
During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Ottawa in September, Rota recognized in the House of Commons a man who had served in a voluntary unit created by the Nazis to help fight the Soviet Union during the Second World War.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
