The scuffle in the House of Commons Wednesday might have surprised Canadians used to a more staid tone in Parliament, but for those who have worked on the Commons floor, such tensions arenāt unusual.
While not quite on the scale of the melees seen in the parliaments of Taiwan or Ukraine, by Canadian standards, it was a rather unusual scene Wednesday, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau crossed the Commons floor, pushed through a group of MPs and become embroiled in a shouting match with NDP leader Thomas Mulcair.
CTV political analyst Scott Reid, who worked for years on Parliament Hill says anger flares regularly in the House of Commons, as members provoke one another verbally and become agitated.
āIāve seen that happen many times,ā Reid told CTVās Canada AM Thursday. āAnd one of the things that people at home might not appreciate is how small the House of Commons is.ā
In the chamberās tight quarters, emotions can become quickly exaggerated and can sometimes provoke members to act on their emotions, rather than their reason.
āThe chamber is compact. You are cheek-by-jowl with these members and they yell at one another and they get wound up about these issues,ā Reid said.
The incident was prompted by an ongoing debate on a motion aimed at limiting debate on the controversial assisted-dying legislation, Bill C-14. Trudeau grabbed the arm of Conservative whip Gord Brown to pull him through the crowd of New Democrat MPs, in a bid to hurry up the vote.
On Thursday morning, Trudeau apologized in the Commons for the third time, saying his actions were not appropriate, and that it wasn't his role to try to expedite the vote.
While some Canadians might find the debateās subject matter dull, tempers have been running high in the Commons all week on the issue. And Reid notes that, to MPās, this is their life and work, so itās no surprise that the stresses cause them to grow emotional.
āFrankly, I donāt think thatās the worst thing in the world. Iād rather have the people debating our laws feeling passionately about it than going through the motions,ā he said.
As for Trudeauās actions, itās clear the prime minister lost his temper and acted inappropriately, Reid said. What the PM needs to do now, he said, is to continue to admit heās sorry.
āIn a situation like this, thereās no alternative except to stand up and take your lumps and say, āI was in the wrong. I lost my cool. Iām not going to blame other people and say this is why I did it. Who cares why I did it? What I did was inappropriateā,ā he said.
But by the same token, the opposition needs to keep perspective and not overplay this moment, Reid added. If they try to suggest the prime minister is a raging menace or that the incident was a display of violence against women, āI think theyāre going to find that they lose people on it.ā
