Speaker silences Poilievre for a day after he accused foreign minister of pandering to Hamas

Speaker Greg Fergus ruled on Tuesday that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre would be barred from speaking in the House of Commons for the rest of the day after he refused to retract his accusation that Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is catering to Hamas.

During Monday's question period, Poilievre pressed Joly to denounce what he called "genocidal chants from hateful mobs" at recent protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Authorities have launched investigations into alleged hate speech at some rallies, and charges have been laid in certain cases.

Joly, reading from a prepared statement, acknowledged the one-year anniversary of Hamas's brutal October 7 attack on Israel, stating, "We stand with Jewish people."

Poilievre continued by asking her again about the antisemitic slogans, to which Justice Minister Arif Virani responded, "What we stand up against, absolutely, is the amount of hatred that we have seen."

Poilievre then criticized Joly for not taking a firmer stance on the rhetoric heard during these protests. He said, "I gave the foreign affairs minister two opportunities to condemn the increasingly common and terrifying antisemitic chants we hear in the streets, such as 'Israel will soon be gone' and 'There is only one solution! Intifada, revolution!'"

He went on to say, "Twice she refused to condemn those remarks. She continues to pander to Hamas supporters and the Liberal Party as part of her leadership campaign rather than doing her job."

Joly objected to Poilievre's comments, and Fergus concurred on Tuesday, declaring that Poilievre's remarks were inappropriate.

In his ruling, Fergus referred to an earlier incident involving Liberal MP Yvan Baker, who had accused Poilievre's Conservatives of being aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After Baker's remark, "The Putin wing has taken over the Conservative Party," he was barred from speaking in the House for linking Poilievre’s party to a foreign regime.

Fergus stated that he must apply the same standards to Poilievre, who had similarly linked Joly to "an odious regime" and refused to retract his comments.

Fergus explained that Poilievre, as an experienced MP, should know the rules and that his actions must adhere to the standards of parliamentary decorum. MPs who disregard the Speaker's authority, he warned, risk undermining the work of the House of Commons.

In a related move, Fergus also lifted the ban on Baker, allowing him to return to debates on October 9, 2024, after sanctions had been imposed on him for similar remarks.