Tensions run high on the Hill as MPs debate second Conservative motion of non-confidence

Members of Parliament debated the second Conservative motion of non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of the week on Thursday, amid simmering tensions.

One day after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s first attempt to bring down the Liberal minority failed by a vote of 211-120, the House of Commons was seized with another Official Opposition-led effort.

 

• Capital Dispatch: Sign up for in-depth political coverage of Parliament Hill

Thursday’s motion states: “Given that, after nine years, the government has doubled housing costs, taxed food, punished work, unleashed crime, and is the most centralizing government in Canadian history, the House has lost confidence in the government and offers Canadians the option to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.”

Debate kicked off in the morning and continued throughout the day, with the vote on this motion scheduled for next Tuesday.

With the Bloc Quebecois giving the Liberals until late October to heed their demands to avoid an election before the new year, and the NDP citing polling about Canadians not wanting an election right now, this motion is likely to have a similar outcome to the first.

Though, neither party has yet to declare how they intend to vote on Poilievre’s latest proposal. In a statement, the Conservatives called on the other opposition parties to stop propping up the Liberals and “give Canadians the relief they desperately need.”

Government House Leader Karina Gould said during the debate that it was “a little awkward that we're here again today, just a few hours after the House voted non-confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada,” referencing Poilievre’s failed push to send Canadians to the polls.

“What we saw yesterday is that there are three parties in this House, in fact, that want to work for Canadians, the Liberal members of Parliament, the Bloc members of Parliament, the New Democratic members of Parliament, who are all here to get the work done for Canadians,” Gould said.

“In fact, it feels a little deflated in here. It feels a little bit like, I don't know, those Conservative members of Parliament don't have that same energy, because they lost that motion yesterday, and they're doing it again today.”

Tensions fray over heated moments

With the NDP supply-and-confidence deal no longer in play, the Liberals are poised to face a series of confidence tests this fall. The unstable dynamics and potential for the government to fall at any time has emotions running high on Parliament Hill.

There have been a series of heated exchanges already this sitting. From last Thursday’s back-and-forth between NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Poilievre, to Trudeau yesterday accusing a Conservative MP of “casual homophobic comments.”

Before question period, House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus made a ruling on last week’s scene that saw Singh stepping on to the floor after Poilievre called him a “sellout.”

Fergus said after offering both leaders the opportunity to “make amends,” Singh vowed to “act differently in the future,” but Poilievre didn’t reply, prompting the Speaker to take some questions away from him during Thursday’s question period.

“Party leaders have a heightened responsibility to be role models... The chair therefore invites members to be more judicious in their choice of words and behaviour. If they are not, the chair will have no choice but to discipline those members who persist in their unparliamentary behaviour,” Fergus said.

Then, after question period, the Conservative MP who was accused Wednesday of making a “homophobic” bathtub comment about the prime minister and Canada’s consul general in New York, offered his side of the story.

“The Hansard notes, ‘does he engage with them in the bathtub?’ The point of that comment is to illustrate that, of course, meetings don't take place in a bathtub. Luxury, a luxurious bathtub has nothing to do with meetings,” said Garnett Genuis. “It had nothing to do with sex. I wasn't thinking about sex at all.”

Liberal Rob Oliphant, who is an openly gay member of Parliament, didn’t agree.

“It is a homophobic slur… And if the consul general in New York were a woman, if she was treated that way in this House, this House would be outraged. Every member of this House should be outraged,” he said.

Speaking to reporters about the state of decorum, some parliamentarians said the kind of heckling happening is more fitting for a frat house than the House of Commons.

“It seems lately that there is a political fever that has gripped this place,” said Health Minister Mark Holland, who was first elected in 2004.

“If somebody's screaming and yelling at you and denigrating you, and making personal slurs, and they do that all day long, and that's your workplace?” Holland said. “Like, what other workplace would this stuff be acceptable?

NDP MP Charlie Angus said that while heckling has always been a part of Parliament, it’s become more personal.

“The idea that we're all supposed to sit there as choir boys and girls to me, is not democratic, but it's the viciousness of the comments that is problematic. And the polarizing language that's problematic,” Angus said.

Expect tone to worsen: politicos

What’s on display is emblematic of a Parliament in its dying days, according to politicians and staffers who were on the Hill during past minorities.

Former Conservative cabinet minister James Moore – who served in five Parliaments, three of which were minorities under Paul Martin and then Stephen Harper that had their fair share of high-stakes moments – said minority Parliaments have “a unique dynamic that is very hard to predict.”

“One thing about minority parliaments as well that people need to keep in mind, is that sometimes they fall by accident. Sometimes it's not by design. Sometimes they can operate on a razor-thin margin,” Moore said. “And once you vote non-confidence once, you can’t go back.”

He said he expects this Parliament “not to get more sanguine and polite, but actually to get a little tougher and meaner as we get closer to the next election campaign.”

Scott Reid, CTV News political analyst and Martin’s former communications director said how the fall sitting is playing out so far is “on par with minority parliaments that are reaching the end of their life.”

“I can guarantee with no fear of contradiction, it will get worse. The tensions are going to get high. The emotions are going to run even more ragged. And look, as we move toward the holiday season and there are a greater number of these confidence votes… the risk something goes sideways will increase immensely, and that puts everybody on pins and needles,” Reid said.

“People's careers are on the line, their futures are on the line, and one person losing their temper with another can literally change the course of political history,” he said.