Conservative MP Scott Reid was caught on camera Tuesday morning using some distinctly unparliamentary language after a committee meeting was abruptly adjourned on Parliament Hill.
“I said ‘point of order’ before you pulled that sh-t,” Reid told committee chair and Liberal MP Larry Bagnell as Bagnell rose to leave the room.
“We are not adjourned or suspended. That’s bullsh-t, Mr. Chair. That is bullsh-t!”
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Reid’s voice was loud enough to be caught by microphones in the room before the usual “in-recess” music interrupted the broadcast.
Tensions within the Procedure and House Affairs committee have boiled over in recent weeks as a result of the government’s efforts to change some of the rules of the House of Commons.
The committee had been asked to study a discussion paper put forward by the Liberals that suggested, among other things, eliminating Friday sittings, introducing e-votes and launching a prime minister’s question period.
The opposition felt the government was trying to ram those changes through, and members of the committee filibustered in an effort to delay the process. The Liberals have since dropped the more contentious recommendations, and are planning to table a motion to pass some of the others in the House of Commons.
Tuesday’s gathering and the filibuster itself were therefore brought to an abrupt end as Bagnell adjourned the committee meeting.
Following his angry outburst, Reid told a reporter for the National Post that Bagnell had previously said that majority consent would be required to adjourn a meeting. He then tweeted that it was a “grotesque abuse of a chairman’s authority.” Reid now wants government House leader Bardish Chagger to appear before the committee.