When every part of Parliament is weaponized, blow-ups are inevitable

There is cross-partisan agreement on at least one thing in Ottawa: last week's meeting of the House of Commons committee on the status of women was an embarrassing spectacle.

The only real debate is over who should feel the most embarrassed.

Officially, last week's committee meeting was held so that MPs could hear from three witnesses on the topic of violence against women. After a half-hour of testimony, a Liberal MP moved to have the committee return to a previously adjourned discussion about abortion. Liberal and NDP members voted to do so and the hearing on violence against women effectively came to an end.

As the Canadian Press reported, two witnesses — one of them a survivor of domestic abuse — angrily departed the meeting shortly thereafter. At least one witness and one member of the audience heckled the committee members.

Conservative MPs had promoted the meeting on social media as a chance to highlight the issue of violent crime and criticize Liberal justice policy. When the meeting collapsed in acrimony, they took to social media to heap scorn on Liberal and NDP committee members.

«You can't make it up,» Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri told her online followers. «Even if you tried.»

«Victims invited to testify today at an emergency committee on violence against women were SILENCED by Liberal and NDP MPs today,» Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote.

Before the meeting was adjourned, Liberal and NDP MPs made clear that they were upset with how the hearing had come to take place. But the Liberal MP who moved the motion — Anita Vandenbeld — has now offered her side of the story at some length.

As Vandenbeld says, committee hearings typically occur after committee members have agreed to a study and suggested