The Bible passage Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose to read Thursday at the annual national prayer breakfast in Ottawa was chosen long before his physical confrontation in the House of Commons, and its resultant apologies.
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Ruth Ellen Brosseau says she has faced personal attacks since she was elbowed in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, including that she should be “ashamed to be a woman” and that she is “not a feminist”.
As Canadians wondered what to make of an unprecedented physical fracas in parliament involving the prime minister, Trudeau apologized for a third time on Thursday.
Continuing, the Canada Prime Minister said, “Canada alone won’t bear alone the responsibility for every mistake that occurred with Komagata Maru”.
“Mr Speaker, today I rise in this House to offer an apology on behalf of the Government of Canada, for our role in the Komagata Maru incident”.
NDP MP David Christopherson, a vice-chair of the committee, said that since Trudeau said he would participate, he thinks it would be politically hard for his Liberal colleagues to try and shut things down too quickly.
“I wasn’t going to go running after the prime minister”, she said.
The University of the Fraser Valley professor says Parliament has always been a place of vigorous debate, full of heckling and name calling, but an incident Wednesday was surprising because of its rarity.
“I come from a workplace that, by all accounts, people would consider to be a little rough but I have never seen behaviour like that, I have never witnessed it myself”, she said.
The matter of privilege involving Brosseau’s member rights has been referred to the Commons procedure and House affairs committee.
The scene was set as Parliamentarians were waiting to make a vote. “He said ‘Get the bleep out of the way, ‘” she said, adding Trudeau “violently” grabbed Brown.
Testy words and verbal jabs are often thrown in Ottawa, but an expert says it’s rare for Canadian politicians to spar physically. Still, the incident reminded Canadians of when late former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford barrelled over a 63-year-old female city councillor while rushing to defend his brother, Councilor Doug Ford, who was insulting spectators in the council chamber.
Essex MP Tracey Ramsey had a front-row seat during Wednesday’s parliamentary ruckus and was featured on front pages across the country after wagging her finger at a prime minister who crossed the floor and, in her eyes, crossed the line. The incident has already impacted the government’s agenda and could delay the passing of the euthanasia bill.
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The Trudeau government is trying to meet a Supreme Court-imposed June 6 deadline on the bill. Ambrose called it a “great start”. “Is the atmosphere in the House getting particularly toxic?'” he said.
