Sanctioned PLC MP denounces “double standard” that would benefit Poilievre

Photo: Justin Tang The Canadian Press Liberal elected official Yvan Baker

Émilie Bergeron – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published on October 9

• Canada

A Liberal MP who was deprived of his right to speak in the Commons by the Speaker of the House for more than six months says it was unfair that the same punishment was applied to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for just one day.

“There is a double standard in the House not only with this decision […] but in general. Mr. Poilievre is constantly in the House insulting other members, lying, saying inappropriate things […] and most of the time, there are no consequences,” Liberal MP Yvan Baker said Wednesday.

Baker has been silenced in the House since last March, when he refused to retract comments accusing Mr. Poilievre of pandering to a pro-Vladimir Putin fringe in his party. He is due to speak in the House again Wednesday.

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In sanctioning Mr. Poilievre for one day on Tuesday, House Speaker Greg Fergus cited the punishment Mr. Baker received as an example.

The latter has difficulty explaining the clearly shorter duration of Mr. Poilievre's sanction. He noted that the decision on his punishment had been made by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Chris d'Entremont, a Conservative MP. Mr. Baker said Mr. d’Entremont was pressured by the Conservative caucus to impose such a harsh sanction.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who was targeted by the Conservative leader’s comments that led to her being sanctioned, also believes it is insufficient that Mr. Poilievre is only being banned from speaking in the House for one day.

“He continued his lies yesterday, he will continue today and in the meantime, he still hasn’t apologized,” she said.

Mr. Poilievre accused the minister on Monday of “caving to Hamas sympathizers and the Liberal Party in her leadership campaign rather than doing her job.”

The Conservative leader criticized Joly during question period for not taking two opportunities he had previously given her to “condemn the terrifying and increasingly common anti-Semitic chants we hear in the streets.” He had just read slogans such as “Israel will soon disappear” and asked her to denounce them.

Minister Joly argues that she denounces such remarks “every day.” On Monday, she responded to Poilievre by saying that October 7, the first anniversary of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that kicked off the war in the Middle East, was a bad day to “play politics.”

“We are all, I hope, in this House, against any form of anti-Semitism and discrimination and I really hope that my colleague across the way will apologize,” she retorted. Her Liberal colleagues then stood up and applauded wildly.

Mr. Poilievre then returned to the charge, arguing that October 7 is a day for “a government to stand up for what is right.”

On Tuesday, a Conservative critic, Sebastian Skamski, said Mr. Fergus is showing “partisan bias” by trying to censor Conservative questions.