The man tasked with ensuring that order prevails in the House of Commons says his first year on the job was, well, interesting.
In a year that included , outrage over the word 鈥渇art鈥� being uttered in the House of Commons and plenty of the usual heckling, Speaker of the House Geoff Regan said he hopes 2017 will have a little less shouting.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an easy thing to do and it鈥檒l never be a tea party in there, in my view, but it has been a priority for me and I think it鈥檚 important to Canadians,鈥� Regan told CTV鈥檚 Power Play in an interview that aired Wednesday.
One of the stranger days on Parliament Hill was Nov. 15, when Conservative MP Michelle Rempel addressed economic hardship in Alberta by saying: 鈥淲hy does the government treat Alberta like a fart in the room that nobody wants to talk about or acknowledge?鈥�
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May later challenged the use of the word, calling it 鈥渄istinctly unparliamentary.鈥� She even spelled it out.
鈥淚 think she may want to withdraw it. The word was f-a-r-t,鈥� May said.
Deputy chair Bruce Stanton, who Regan describes as 鈥渟uperb,鈥� was in the chair that day, and he didn鈥檛 find the word to be unparliamentary. The debate went on.
But the strange exchange did inspire Regan to do a bit of research. He found that the government doesn鈥檛 have a list of unparliamentary words. Instead, that call is left up to the Speaker鈥檚 discretion.
鈥淚t depends on the circumstances, the tone, whether it creates disorder in the House. Those are all essential elements of determining whether or not it鈥檚 unparliamentary,鈥� Regan said.
鈥淎nd a word that may have been unparliamentary 50 years ago may not be today. It may not be considered offensive by people today than it was at one time. People鈥檚 attitudes towards some things evolve. Or it could be a word that鈥檚 newer that becomes offensive in some way for some reason.鈥�
And then there was May 18, the day that a female NDP MP in the chest while physically escorting a Conservative MP from the floor of the House of Commons. Trudeau later apologized to Conservative whip Gord Brown and to New Democrat Ruth-Ellen Brosseau, calling the incident 鈥渘ot appropriate.鈥�
The tension erupted as some MPs in the House thought opposition parties, who were mingling in the aisle, were trying to delay discussions on the Liberals鈥� assisted dying bill, which became law in June.
Regan recalled watching the incident unfold from the Speaker鈥檚 chair.
鈥淔rom my vantage point at my end of the House, I didn鈥檛 see what the video showed the next day, but what I saw then was the prime minister getting up, going across the floor and taking Gord by the arm. And I said, 鈥榃hat the heck is he doing?鈥� And of course the next day the prime minister acknowledged that it wasn鈥檛 his role to extract the Conservative whip and get him moving,鈥� he said.
When Parliament resumes in January, Regan says he鈥檇 like to see MPs show 鈥渁 little more respect toward each other.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 the job of all parties to present an alternative and sometimes they鈥檙e going to knock the other folks. They鈥檙e allowed to do that and I鈥檓 not there to rule on that. But I鈥檇 just like them to do less interrupting,鈥� Regan said.
