Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has apologised after a physical altercation in parliament on Wednesday saw him accused of “manhandling” a Conservative MP and elbowing another.
Footage showed Mr Trudeau marching across to a crowd and pulling Opposition Whip Gord Brown by his arm in an apparent attempt to direct him towards his seat so that parliament could start their procedural vote on assisted dying.
Tensions had been rising in the Commons all week, as Mr Trudeau’s Liberal Party attempts to use its majority to restrict debate on the controversial assisted suicide legislation.
New Democratic Party MP Ruth-Ellen Brousseau said she was “elbowed in the chest” in the resulting scuffle. Parliament then descended into a heated uproar of heckling, while opposition NDP leader Tom Muclair shouted, “What kind of man elbows a woman? It’s pathetic! You’re pathetic!” at Mr Trudeau.
Mr Trudeau then returned to his desk and apologised “unreservedly” once order had been restored.
“I admit I came in physical contact with a number of members as I extended my arm to, including someone behind me who I did not see.
“If anyone feels that they were impacted by my actions, I completely apologise. It was not my intention to hurt anyone."
The Liberal leader then apologised directly to Brousseau.
“I want to take the opportunity … to be able to express directly to [Brosseau] my apologies for my behaviour and my actions, unreservedly," he said.
Opposition MP Niki Ashton condemned Mr Trudeau’s actions. “I have never seen anything like it. I witnessed the PM push one of my colleagues into my desk in the House of Commons,” she wrote on Twitter.
The incident was an atypical eruption in Canada’s parliament.
