House Of Commons Coalition Debate Turns Into Blood Sport As Speaker Screams For Order

If there’s one job you wouldn’t want this week, it’s Speaker of the House of Commons. Question Period can be rough at the best of times. But on Tuesday, with the ongoing coalition threat bearing down on Stephen Harper’s Tories, it was nothing less than a blood sport.

It started when would-be P.M. Stephane Dion stood up to accuse his rival of putting off the confidence vote on his economic statement as long as possible. “The government is supposed to be able to face the House of Commons any day on a vote,” he seethes. “This government now has the deliberate policy of avoiding a vote. This is a violation of the fundamental constitutional principles of our democracy.”

Harper was ready for battle. “The highest principle of Canadian democracy is if you want to be prime minister, you get your mandate from the Canadian people, not from Quebec separatists!

“The deal that the leader of the Liberal party made with the separatist is a betrayal of the voters of the country, a betrayal of the best interests of our economy, a betrayal of the best interests of our economy, and we will fight it with every means we have.”

Despite repeated calls for order from the Speaker’s chair, the clamor rose to raucous heights as Dion shot back.

“Every member of this House has received a mandate from the Canadian people to deliver a government that will face the economic crisis. The prime minister doesn’t have the support of this House anymore. Will he allow a vote to test if he has really the confidence of this House as it has been the parliamentary democracy?”

“Not a single member of this House, not even a member of the Bloc received a mandate to have government in which the separatists would be part of the coalition,” the Tory boss answered back. “If the leader of the opposition thinks he has support for this, he should have the confidence to take this to the people of Canada, who will reject it!”

Again, the Speaker called for calm and again he had a hard time getting it. “Order! Order!” Peter Milliken tried in vain. “We need more order in House, and today is not order. I asked the honourable members to restrain themselves so we hear the questions and the responses.”

After Gilles Duceppe chimed in with his own objections in French, it was NDP leader Jack Layton’s turn to shout.

“The parties on this side of the House have put aside their differences to work together. The priority for this next government, this coalition, will be to come up with solutions to the problems faced by the economy. This is what we are looking for right now. This is what the public wants. The Conservatives refused to do that. So how can Canadians have confidence in the government?”

Harper was ready with an answer.

“The voters have said that it was not up to the coalition to form a government. Instead of being willing to cooperate, the leader of the NDP has admitted that from the beginning of this parliament, his sole objective was to form a coalition with the separatists. That is not what federalists, Conservatives, Liberals, and not what NDPers across this country voted for!”

A clearly annoyed Milliken tried again.

“Order! Order!,” he pleaded as catcalls and arguments broke out across the chamber. “We’ll have a little order. I know members are enjoying engaging in vigorous debate during this Question Period. But we do have to be able to hear the questions and the responses!”

Try as he might, though, the tumult continued – an audible metaphor of the divisions which are cutting a swath across the country as Canadians take sides on a crisis most never thought they’d live to see.