At the Quebec national assembly, debates between MNAs are known to be a bit raucous, but a particularly brash week has some wondering if Speaker François Paradis has lost control of question period.
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Paradis frequently warns MNAs during question period to watch their comments.
He has chided the Liberal opposition for making fun of ministers’ answers and urged them to behave according to the rules. On numerous occasions, he has warned the government not to accuse other parties of blocking parliamentary work, which is against the rules. When on Thursday government house leader Simon Jolin-Barrette did just that, Paradis told him again to watch what he says.
He also told everyone to keep the noise down.
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Just six seconds later, Paradis was forced to rise again after Jolin-Barrette accused the opposition parties of not caring about the common good. Three minutes after that, Transport Minister François Bonnardel ignored three warnings to avoid hurtful comments.
“That’s why you’re not running to become leader of the Liberal Party, because nobody wants you in Quebec!” Bonnardel said to MNA Gaetan Barrette.
If the tension has been mounting for weeks, things really got out of control at the end of Thursday’s question period.
The premier accused the Liberals of blocking parliamentary work, but Paradis decided to let him continue speaking. That outraged the Liberals. Their house leader Marc Tanguay refused to sit down and respect the decision.
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The Liberals say the speaker doesn’t consistently enforce the rules.
“He has to make sure that every day the rules are followed, and not like sometimes we have some rules and the other days he has new rules,” said Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy.
“The government and the official opposition are playing political games and putting the president (the speaker) in the middle of their political games and I think we shouldn’t do that,” said Quebec Solidaire house leader, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
Rizqy said she and her colleagues will try harder to make question period work.
“We all got the memo, now let’s work,” Rizqy said.
There are two weeks left before the session breaks.