House Speaker Greg Fergus appears as a witness at a standing committee of Procedures and House Affairs on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 11.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
A committee of MPs looking into allegations that House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus lacks impartiality has ended its work deeply divided between members who say he should be punished, but remain in the post, and those who say he should resign.
Liberals and New Democrats on the committee said in a report Thursday that Mr. Fergus should pay a fine and issue a new apology for making and sending a tribute video for John Fraser, the former interim leader of the Ontario Liberals. The video was shown at a party event where Bonnie Crombie was named leader.
However, Conservatives and members of the Bloc Québécois said they have lost confidence in the Quebec MP as an unbiased arbiter of Commons business, and that he should step down.
The conflicting views were outlined in a main report from the procedure and House affairs committee authored by the Liberals and New Democrats, and a pair of dissenting reports from the Conservatives and the Bloc.
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Government House Leader Karina Gould said Mr. Fergus deserved to remain in his job. “We do not feel this is a resignable offence,” she told journalists.
In addition to the video, the Conservatives and the Bloc raised concerns about Mr. Fergus speaking of his days as a young Liberal during a social event while visiting Washington during the furor over the video. They also cited Mr. Fergus saying in an interview with The Globe and Mail that he saw the Liberals as “our party.”
“From the outset, the Bloc Québécois had advised Mr. Fergus of the need to set an example and carry out his role as Speaker with all the high standards and judgment required given the crisis the Chair had just gone through,” said the Bloc report.
The crisis refers to the departure of former speaker Anthony Rota, who stepped down in September over his decision to invite a Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran – who, it turned out, was a former member of a Nazi unit – to the House during an official visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr. Fergus, who represents the riding of Hull-Aylmer across the Ottawa River, was elected Speaker by MPs in a secret ballot.
But the Bloc said things have not worked out with the new Speaker. “Despite the Bloc Québécois’s request, Speaker Fergus acted contrary to this recommendation just a few weeks into his term of office.”
Meanwhile, the Conservatives were dismissive of recommendations in the main report that Mr. Fergus reimburse “a suitable amount” for the use of parliamentary resources not related to the performance of parliamentary functions and issue a new apology for his conduct. He has previously apologized several times, saying the video to honour his old friend was filmed quickly by a staff member between appointments.
“More serious remedies are necessary to repair the damage done by the blatant pattern of partisanship by Mr. Fergus,” said the Conservative report.
“It is, therefore, with no pleasure, but in the best interests of the institutions of Parliament that the Official Opposition expresses its lost confidence in Greg Fergus as Speaker of the House of Commons and asks that he resign the office immediately.”
Also Thursday, Andrew Scheer, the Conservative House Leader, raised new concerns in the Commons about Mr. Fergus.
The former Speaker highlighted social-media material posted by Sophie Chatel, the Liberal MP for the Quebec riding of Pontiac, indicating that Mr. Fergus attended a cocktail party with fellow Liberals in mid-November.
He said this was a further example of bias by the former parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
But Ms. Chatel said in a statement that the event was held by the provincial member of the legislature in the area where Mr. Fergus’s riding is located, and that it was not a fundraising event and no entry fee was charged.
“Greg simply stopped by,” she wrote.
Mathieu Gravel, a spokesperson for Mr. Fergus, said the Speaker was simply in attendance at this free event in Aylmer, which is in his riding.
Mr. Gravel added in a statement that the Speaker will fully comply with all recommendations suggested in the report.
New measures will allow the office to more judiciously assess all requests for the Speaker’s attendance at events and for the production of written or video messages, he said.
Mr. Scheer announced a non-confidence motion in the Speaker this week, but it did not come before the Commons on Thursday.
Meanwhile, CBC reported that the House imposed a $500 penalty earlier this year on Mr. Scheer after he broke rules for MPs by filming a partisan video in his parliamentary office.
Ian Bailey