Before Question Period, Prime Minister Trudeau held a presser where he apologized for all parliamentarians for what occurred last Friday in the House of Commons.

The person who was at fault for the unfortunate incident, outgoing Speaker Anthony Rota, has apologized and resigned, which will take effect at the end of today’s sitting.

Anthony Rota is resigning as Speaker of the House of Commons after facing calls to quit from all sides over his decision to invite a man who served in a Nazi unit to Parliament during a historic visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. ‘The work of this House is above any of us,’ Rota said as he announced he was leaving the sought-after position.

The Prime Minister started off Question Period by reiterating that apology:

Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau offers an "unreserved apology" for outgoing House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota's recognition of a man who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War. #Cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/WCNplkdN34

— Jaro Giesbrecht (@JaroGiesbrecht) September 27, 2023

That was in response to Poilievre’s first question, where he asked the Prime Minister to take personal responsibility for what had occurred.

Poilievre kept making the same assertions and asking the PM to personally apologize, and Trudeau kept giving his answers in a pretty calm manner, apologizing for all MPs.

Then, about halfway through QP, the PM finally took the gloves off when responding to Conservative Party of Canada MP James Bezen’s question:

“Mr. Speaker. Do you know who doesn’t report to the Prime Minister in our parliamentary system? The Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr. Speaker. It is well established that the independence of the Speaker is sacrosanct. Now if the leader of the opposition wants to change that, let him stand up and say that, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to defend the principles and the rights of parliamentarians even as we stand with Ukraine against the illegal invasion by Russia.” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

The Prime Minister is, of course, correct here. As he repeatedly stated earlier during this session of Question Period, it is not up to the government of the day to vet and have veto power over who the Speaker and other MPs invite into the House of Commons.

There’s plenty of clips of this QP on ‘X’, I’m sure. But this…this response is what I wanted to hone in on.

This DESPERATE, twisted stretch of logic was Pierre Poilievre’s (who has been a Member of Parliament for almost 20 years and is currently the leader of the official opposition) response to try and justify his “outrage.”

“Actually, the Speaker’s parliamentary protective service reports to the RCMP, which reports to the Prime Minister. So the Prime Minister says that his national police agency did not vet…”

At that point, the Speaker had to interrupt PP because Liberals were calling him out on his bullshit.

This is the face Poilievre made as he actually spewed that line of bullshit.

(You can tell he knows he’s full of it with this BS line of “reasoning.”)

Poilievre then continues, saying that all guests who are invited by the Speaker or by other MPs must be vetted by the government of the day because otherwise “terrorists, assassins, convicted murderers would all be allowed to just walk right into the building and be present within mere feet of a potential assassination target.”

Just ridiculous.

Watch:

“To demonstrate such little knowledge and respect for how parliament functions in order to make a partisan attack is truly disgraceful, Mr. Speaker.” – PM

Poilievre finally says the government should politically vet everyone in the building.
What an outrageous demand for overreach. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) September 27, 2023

His next “question” started out by saying the Prime Minister “forgot” to vet the people recognized during President Zelensky’s visit. So now Poilievre is spinning it, in real-time, to say PM “forgot” to do the thing that, you know, isn’t a thing that Trudeau or any Prime Minister in history has done.

He then DOUBLED DOWN on his line about the PM letting in “terrorists, assassins or convicted criminals” and Trudeau gave the respect and response that Poilievre’s question deserved.

Watch:

The security services for the House of Commons are there to provide security. Not check on the political backgrounds of those who are invited by other MPs.

But now, since Prime Minister Trudeau didn’t do the thing that any other Prime Minister in the history of our Westminster Parliamentary System has ever done now means, according to the Leader of the Official Opposition, that our House of Commons has swung its doors WIDE open to “terrorists, assassins or convicted criminals!” According to Poilievre, it was as if there was absolutely no security whatsoever during the President’s visit.

Now I’m worried there’s gonna be Uruk-haiocai, COBRA henchmen, and, without a doubt, a few Sith Lords sneaking about.

Oh, but Jason, how could you make light of this horrible situation?

I’m not. It’s Pierre Poilievre who is making light of the unfortunate situation by saying such things and demeaning our House of Commons to play political games for cheap political points.

As always, there’s no low too low with Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada.

JP