Conservative MP Blake Richards was forced to leave the House of Commons during Question Period on Thursday after a sustained bout of heckling.
In a rare move, Speaker Geoff Regan asked the sergeant-at-arms to remove Richards.
“The honourable member for Banff-Airdrie will come to order or he can go outside or be helped outside. Which would he prefer?” Regan warned Richards.
He then announced that Richards had to go, and the sergeant-at-arms moved to escort him out. Richards received a few handshakes from fellow Conservative MPs as he left.
READ MORE: Stamping out heckling in the House of Commons
The removal drew scattered applause on the Liberal side of the House.
Global News reporter David Akin, who was sitting not far from the Speaker’s chair, said Richards had ignored repeated warnings to be quiet.
Such incidents remain extremely rare in the House of Commons. In 1982, for example, Conservative MP John Crosbie was shown the door after refusing to withdraw unparliamentary language he used against former prime minister Jean Chretien.
Liberal MP Liguori Lacombe had to be actually touched on the shoulder by the sergeant-at-arms in July 1944 when he was similarly ejected from the House of Commons for repetitive interruptions of another member’s speech. He was suspended for seven days.
Richards’ ejection Thursday came in the midst of another intense round of questioning involving Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The minister has been under fire for weeks for possible conflicts of interest linked to his personal finances.
Comments