Ottawa, ON – This ruling today has confirmed what Common Sense Conservatives have known for months: that Greg Fergus is a partisan speaker who is using the Chair to benefit the Liberal Party of Canada.
This was made clear after Fergus got caught holding a fundraiser for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party. Before they deleted it from their website, the Liberals wrote that they were organizing a “Summer Evening with the Honourable Greg Fergus.” The promotional material for this event included inflammatory partisan attacks about the Leader of the Official Opposition, saying that he “propose[s] reckless policies that would risk our health, safety and pocketbooks.” This is unacceptable.
This is the third time in just a few months that Fergus has failed his responsibility to be non-partisan. In the last few months, Fergus spoke at a cocktail fundraising dinner for a neighbouring Liberal, addressed the Ontario Liberal Party leadership convention in full Speaker garb, and jetted off to Washington at taxpayer expense to make a speech about his days as a member of the Young Liberals.
This was also seen when he used the authority of his position to kick out the Leader of the Opposition while giving a free pass to the Prime Minister for using similar language. Greg Fergus must resign. The House of Commons cannot function without a non-partisan Speaker.
If Greg Fergus refuses to resign after this ruling, then the NDP must vote with Conservatives to remove Greg Fergus from the Chair. It’s time for the NDP to stop protecting Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Speaker. Only then can we restore impartiality to the Speaker’s Office.