Four words.  That's all Banff - Airdrie Conservative MP Blake Richards claims to have said during Question Period last Thursday (November 30) in the House of Commons.  

Apparently those four words were enough to cause House Speaker Geoff Reagan to demand the Sergeant-At-Arms escort Richards out of the House, making him the first person in 15 years to be turfed from the chamber and just the 44th in 104 years.

"Let me start by indicating what didn't happen," said Richards.  "There's been a lot of false reports out there about what occurred. I want to make it really clear that I do not believe that the types of behaviours we often see in question period, the people that are trying to shout down people,  those types of behaviors are completely unacceptable, something I absolutely and fundamentally disagree with and something I have never participated in, not any other day and certainly not that day.  That's not what happened, it's not at all what happened."

Richards said he was trying to protest those things during what he calls a "terrible" question period. 

"There were gestures being made from the Liberal side to people that I felt were inappropriate.  Most importantly, we had a Prime Minister and a Finance Minister that were standing up repeatedly, supposedly to respond to questions, and refusing to give answers to straight-forward questions, that they clearly would have the information to be able to answer, but refusing to do so."

Richards said on that day, and for the entire week, they received answers from Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau that went beyond the partisan politics and were, what he says, over-the-top, dishonest attacks.

"I felt that those were not being properly dealt with and I protested that and that is what lead to the Speaker making the decision that he made.  I'll leave it to others to make a judgment about whether that was appropriate but I'll tell you that many people that were there have told me that it was shocking and certainly unwarranted."

And what were the four words that got Richards unceremoniously taken from the House?

"I'm happy to share it.  'What other members, Speaker?'  So it wasn't a four-letter word, it was four simple words.  The bottom line was that I felt the Finance Minister had made some very nasty and dishonest comments to a member of the House of Commons that were inappropriate.  The Speaker was indicating that the Minister, "and other members," should be advised not to do so, so I simply said, "what other members, Speaker" and the Speaker didn't like me, I guess, asking that question so that's what led to him deciding to do what he did."

Richards said he won't hold a grudge against Reagan over the incident. 

"I actually quite like the Speaker as a person, we've always gotten along well. This didn't affect my ability to represent my constituents and I don't expect it to affect that ability in the future so I don't really intend to raise this concern about what happened that day any further.  My concern is more to see how the decorum in the House of Commons improved and I think I have some ideas about how that can be better done.  That's the conversation I plan to have with the Speaker."

Richards said he has received a great deal of support from his constituents on social media with many of them saying 'good for you for standing up for what you believe is right.'

 

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