Justin Trudeau leaves Parliament Hill after a Liberal caucus meeting on Oct. 23, 2008.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Justin Trudeau admits he was in a mood yesterday when he took to the national airwaves to debate Conservative MP Shelly Glover and NDP MP Nathan Cullen.
Mr. Cullen said afterward, "Justin had a triple latte this morning."
Ms. Glover had much stronger words: "Justin is one of the worst examples of lack of decorum and lack of professionalism and lack of maturity that I have ever seen."
She also said that he was "insulting." More than that, she believes that the bad behaviour shown by some MPs "incites" younger people to behave badly.
Here's what happened. Mr. Trudeau, a rookie Liberal Montreal MP, was full of vim and vigour yesterday during an appearance on CTV's Question Period . What landed him in trouble, however, were his sustained interruptions of Ms. Glover.
This did not play well with some viewers - many of whom wrote emails expressing their dissatisfaction with the way in which the panel was moderated (by me) and with Mr. Trudeau's constant interruptions.
Ms. Glover, a rookie MP from Manitoba, held her own. She was calm, cool and collected. She made her points well, although she believes that she was never able to fully complete a thought because of the interruptions.
Mr. Cullen did not mix it up as much; he sat back and watched the fight.
The debate was over the Liberal missteps of last week and the thinkers' conference that was taking place in Montreal over the weekend. Here is part of the exchange:
TRUDEAU: Shelly, you went to an election campaign...
GLOVER: Can I finish? Would you mind if I finished, because I certainly didn't interrupt you Justin Trudeau.
TRUDEAU: Shelly, you're totally...
GLOVER: I would like to finish if that's okay.
GLOVER: You need a leader. And your leader didn't even hang around after a failed motion that divided your party.
TRUDEAU: You're ridiculous.
GLOVER: I'm not going to insult you, Mr. Trudeau, I think that's absolutely, it's insulting, it's not polite...
TRUDEAU: We're building with courage.
GLOVER: May I finish?
TRUDEAU: You guys are running and hiding.
GLOVER: Mr. Trudeau...
After they were elected in 2008, Ms. Glover, Mr. Trudeau and Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie we're interviewed on what's wrong with Parliament. All agreed, Ms. Glover said, that the bad behaviour leading to the lack of decorum in the House must stop.
"I don't think we should give anyone, MP or otherwise, free reign to insult other people publicly without some kind of consequence," she told The Globe today.
For his part, Mr. Trudeau said what irked him was the characterization by the Conservatives of the Liberal conference as a "spenders' conference."
And that the Tories would not admit that what really bothered them about the conference was that "it was a frank conversation that is going to require a strong government to deal with these issues and they don't believe in strong government."
Still, he knows he went over the top.
Immediately after the show, he tweeted his regrets: "OK, there seems a consensus: no matter how frustrated I get, I will not be interrupting on panels in the future. I'm learning..."
And today, he said he wants to continue to bring that passion but will "wait for my turn."