Canada lower House Speaker expels opposition leader for calling PM Justin Trudeau ‘wacko’

Canada’s opposition party leader, Pierre Poilievre, has been expelled from the House of Commons after he engaged in a heated argument in the parliamentary session on Tuesday. Poilievre called the PM a “wacko”. The argument was sparked over the government handling of drug overdoses.

Opposition leader Poilievre slammed the ruling Trudeau government for failing to crack down on drug overdoses, reported Reuters. Trudeau responded with a barb by saying that Poilievre was an associate of white supremacists. However, Trudeau was allowed to remain in the House.

“When will we put an end to this wacko policy by this wacko prime minister?” he asked Trudeau in the House of Commons elected lower chamber.

Speaker Greg Fergus, a Liberal, told Poilievre the comment was both unparliamentary and unacceptable and asked him four times to withdraw it. Poilievre declined on each occasion, saying instead he would use the word extremist or radical.

Fergus told Poilievre he was disregarding the speaker’s authority and, in an unusual move, said: “I order you to withdraw from the House … for the remainder of this day’s sitting.”

Poilievre continued to attack Trudeau’s stance on drugs after leaving the House. He also reiterated this on his X post.

He wrote, “Trudeau’s stance on hard drug use in public is wacko. He sees no problem in allowing addicts to smoke fentanyl in BC parks, playgrounds, and hospitals. That’s wacko.”

(With Reuters inputs)