Conservatives, NDP sling mud as they squabble over Speakers' neutrality

A third member of the House of Commons leadership team is in the hot seat as accusations fly over allegedly partisan online posts featuring MPs who sit in the Speaker's chair.

The squabbles over chair-holders' neutrality — and parties' hypocrisy — have been dominating the lead-up to a parliamentary summer break.

Conservatives are chiding the NDP for posting the title of Deputy Assistant Speaker Carol Hughes on a party website near donation buttons, and for announcing her election to that position in a nine-year-old press release.

The Tories raised those concerns as they responded to the NDP's own questions over the impartiality of the deputy Speaker, a Conservative MP.

Chris d'Entremont asserted he had no idea that a photo of himself in his Speaker's robes had been used to advertise a Conservative riding event on social media, and promised the post would be deleted.

Those questions came after Speaker Greg Fergus survived a third Conservative attempt to have him removed over a post advertising a summer barbecue event that featured partisan language.

The merry-go-round of dubious partisanship snipes at Speakers of all stripes shows no signs of stopping.

The Liberal Party apologized to Fergus over the post, which advertised his presence at the event but which his office said it did not approve. A motion to remove Fergus was defeated in the House of Commons, with the NDP and Liberals voting against.

As debate over the d'Entremont post continued late Thursday evening in the House, the Tories' deputy House leader, Luc Berthold, encouraged NDP members to «get their own affairs in order.»

He went on to detail quibbles about how Hughes is represented on the party's website, then argued the complaint about d'Entremont was nothing but a