Fu–king right, people are dying because of "wacko" Liberal policies.

In attempting to silence critics, the Liberals equate civility with acquiescence. That's bad news for Canadian democracy.

Moments ago, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre was ejected from the House of Commons by Speaker Greg Fergus (of partisan Liberal controversy fame) for referring to Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dogmatic adherence to the decriminalization of hard drugs like crack and heroin as “wacko.”

The ejection came even though Mr. Trudeau’s government is now facing a request from the British Columbia New Democratic government to change policy. 

Arguably, this policy is wacko (defined as mad; or insane). Recent data has shown that six people are dying per day in British Columbia due to drug overdoses and that the British Columbian government themselves have concerns about both the efficacy of the so-called “safe supply” policy when it comes to reducing new cases of opioid dependency and preventing deaths. Instead of pausing the program, Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals are entertaining a request from Toronto Public Health to expand it. 

Regardless, Mr. Trudeau should have been prepared to defend their decisions to the public. Given that lives are at stake, Mr. Trudeau should have come to Question Period today ready to provide reasoned arguments for his approach. Instead, Mr. Trudeau chose to deflect and accuse Mr. Poilievre of any number of sins, using far less charitable terms than “wacko,” and the Speaker allowed it. 

Outside of the Speaker’s perceived partisanship - he recently barely survived a vote of confidence from the House of Commons - the real problem here is that this move both validates the Prime Minister’s tactics of obfuscating on a serious issue, as well as conflates civility in Parliament with acquiescing to this type of bullshit politics that have a significant impact on the health and safety of Canadians.

Many pieces of literature, particularly in feminist circles, discuss how labelling someone’s choice of words as “not polite” or “uncivil” suppresses dissident voices. Mr. Trudeau’s government is a pernicious culprit of this tactic. Even at the start of their mandate, I experienced this firsthand. It’s true—more civility in politics is needed. But it is decidedly fudged to try to turn the concept of civility into blind acquiescence of a faltering government.

There are moments when hard words are needed, and the federal government’s failure in the opioid crisis is one of those moments. Data shows that policies are killing people, and Mr. Trudeau’s government isn’t responding. 

Strong words are the minimum response that should be expected of legislators to shake up the inertia.

In that, Mr. Trudeau’s decision to deflect as opposed to explain his policy is brutal, but even worse still was Speaker Fergus’s decision to expel Mr. Poilievre for using an apt and justified term to describe the situation.

Based on today’s Question Period, it’s probably fair to say that Mr. Trudeau’s government is f—ed. 

Bring on the election.