MP Rodger Cuzner blames NDP for creating tense situation around PM

Cape Breton MPRodger Cuznerdidn't exactly defend his leader for getting physical on the floor in Parliament yesterday, but he noted the NDP certainly played a role in the fracas.

• Justin Trudeau's elbowing incident leaves House in an uproar

"I can only say what I saw. We were waiting for the vote to happen. The NDP was sort of tying things up, they were standing in front of the whip, they were milling around [for] an inordinate amount of time," he said.

"Whips were waiting to walk down. Our whip walked down, they walked in front of Gord Brown and they were tying him up and our prime minister was sort of a little frustrated, so he went down and pulled himthrough the crowd.

"From my vantage point, he reached in and grabbed Gordon and absolutely, accidentally, just like that, made contact," he said, demonstrating the move with his own arm.

"Anyway, I'm happy to see that Gord made it through OK. He's a hockey guy so if he tried to inflate that, I'd think he'd be getting gears in the dressing room."

'It was going to be a rough day'

Tension was high in the House throughout the day, Cuzner said.

"I was in the House earlier today and during Question Period, you could feel the rancour. I guess it is late in the season, we've got a lot of new members," he said.

"Usually this time of the year, it starts getting a little more intense but I just had a feeling during Question Period, it was going to be a rough day and obviously it sort of turned out like that."

He wouldn't say if he was surprised byTrudeau's actions.

"He wants to get stuff done and the opposition parties have been absolutely non-co-operative.I think he was trying to bring the situation along, he said himself, he wished he'd have used different judgment but anyway, was it right for the NDP to block the whip of the official opposition?"Cuzner asked.

"Look, it doesn't do any good for anyone what took place today."

Cape Breton MP describes what he saw in the Commons

8 years ago

Duration 2:14

Liberal Roger Cuzner gives his take of the Prime Minister's actions in the House