Senators say they have been bullied, harassed by Conservatives over carbon tax exemption bill
John Paul Tasker | CBC News | Posted: November 22, 2023 7:41 PM | Last Updated: November 27, 2023
Conservative Senate leader concedes he got 'very angry' over what he called delaying tactics
Three Independent senators say they were bullied by Conservative Leader Don Plett in the Red Chamber after a member of their group moved to put off debate on a controversial bill that would exempt farmers from certain provisions of Ottawa's carbon tax regime.
The incident is said to have happened earlier this month, when Independent Sen. Bernadette Clement moved to adjourn debate on C-234, a hotly contested private member's bill that would lift the carbon levy on natural gas or propane used by farmers to heat barns or dry grain.
Police and the Senate security team are also now investigating outside threats directed at Clement, who served as the mayor of Cornwall, Ont. before her 2021 appointment.
Independent Senators Group (ISG) Leader Sen. Raymonde Saint-Germain said the threatening phone calls and online harassment directed at Clement after her confrontation with Plett on Nov. 9 "got so out of control" that she feared for her physical safety "and was forced to leave her private residence and spend her weekend elsewhere in a secure location."
Law enforcement is "working on this case," Saint-Germain said.
Plett conceded late Tuesday during debate on his past actions that he got "very angry" out of "frustration" with what he saw as stalling tactics employed by senators appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He lamented the fact that senators couldn't go out for a beer and hash out their disagreements away from the Senate's cameras.
He said he prays every night for the wherewithal to conduct his affairs "in a respectful manner."
"I sometimes win that fight. I don't always," Plett said.
C-234, which has been championed by farmers and their lobby groups, narrowly passed the House of Commons, with a handful of Liberal MPs joining Conservative, Bloc and NDP MPs voting in favour.
Conservative senators have since been pushing the bill in the upper house. The bill's passage would lead to another carve-out of the Liberal government's carbon tax program.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently imposed a pause on the tax for home-heating oil. Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said he will not stand for any more exemptions to the policy, which is the centrepiece of the government's climate plan. Guilbeault has said he's called some senators to explain the government's opposition.
When Clement moved to put off further debate on the legislation on Nov. 9, Plett rose to speak to her, Saint-Germain and Sen Chantal Petitclerc, the Independent group's "chair of deliberations." They engaged in a heated exchange.
Saint-Germain said Plett "violently" threw his earpiece and "stood before Sen. Clement and me as we sat at our desks, yelling and berating us for proposing this routine motion that would see debate resume the following week."
She said Plett "pointed fingers" at another ISG member, Sen. Lucie Moncion, and suggested he would block work she's doing on the Senate's human resource subcommittee.
She said another Conservative, Sen. Michael MacDonald, called ISG members "fascists" during the ruckus.
Saint-Germain said two other Conservative senators, Denise Batters and Leo Housakos, later reposted a social media message that had pictures of Clement and Petitclerc on something that looked like "a 'wanted' poster from the 1800s Wild West."
Scheer suggested Trudeau was pressuring his appointees to block the bill and "resorting to every trick in the book to prevent farmers from getting a carbon tax carve-out."
"The physical and verbal threats, bullying and harassment experienced by members of our group and members of other groups that day by Conservative senators could have the intended consequence of curtailing the business of senators out of fear," Saint-Germain said.
"A handful of bullies must no longer be allowed to make this house dysfunctional. Senators should not be afraid to move motions. They should not be threatened with retaliation."
Saint-Germain is asking Senate Speaker Raymonde Gagné to rule that these Conservatives' actions breached parliamentary privilege, and to propose some remedies.
A spokesperson for Poilievre said Wednesday that Clement is a "so-called 'Independent' senator'" who ran "in numerous elections as a Liberal and was appointed to the Senate by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau."
The spokesperson, Sebastian Skamski, said Clement is doing Trudeau's "bidding to punish Canadian farmers and the families they feed with a costly carbon tax" by delaying debate on the bill.
"Instead of working for Canadians, she listens to Justin Trudeau and his activist environment minister," Skamski said.
A spokesperson for Plett said he would have more to say on the incident when he speaks to the breach of privilege motion Thursday.
Speaking on Tuesday in the chamber, Plett said he doesn't like being called a "bully."
He offered an explanation for his actions, saying he's "passionate" about the issue and wants to see carbon tax relief for more farmers.
There's already a tax exemption for diesel and gasoline used by farmers, but they maintain the carbon price is costing them thousands of dollars for heating barns and drying their crops.
WATCH: Poilievre pushes for pressure campaign to pass new carbon tax exemption
Plett conceded he got "angry" during the off-camera deliberations on the motion to pause debate.
He said he didn't think the Speaker should have first recognized Clement, who was intent on pausing debate, when other Conservatives wanted to continue speaking.
He said he was frustrated to see the bill's progress "impeded and stopped" by Clement's adjournment motion and he "found it very hard to accept."
"I will fight hard for my cause and my party, but I want to do it in a respectful manner, colleagues, and if I didn't on Thursday, that isn't acceptable," he said, stopping short of an apology.
Plett said that in the past, such skirmishes would have been settled without reference to parliamentary privilege.
"For as long as the Senate has been here, 150-some years, we have had that. We have taken it on the chin," Plett said.
"We would have gone out and had a beer together with the person that we were fighting with. Instead, we have what we have now — accusations made."
Clement said "no member should be bullied into silence."
She said she didn't intend to kill the bill but sought to push off further debate because other Independent senators wanted to speak to its contents at the Senate's next sitting.
"This isn't the first time I've had an angry man yell at me. This is the first time I'm taking such a very public stand," she said.
She took issue with Plett's claim that it was "passion" that got him fired up.
"Times have changed. Bullying is not passion, and no one should have to take it on the chin. Experiencing this type of aggressive behaviour here in my workplace was jarring," she said.
Clement, who is Black, said Conservatives whipped up online rage against her by reposting her photo and office telephone number.
"I was subjected to anger, outrage and hate. No one should be subjected to the racism and misogyny embedded in those tweets," she said of social media posts directed at her by online agitators.
In a statement sent to CBC News, Housakos said parliamentarians are routinely "called upon to explain our actions to Canadians. Our office phone numbers and emails are public."
"However, such calls should never result in people being threatened or subjected to racism and misogyny. What happened to Senators Clement and Petitclerc is regrettable and I certainly don't condone or encourage such behaviour against them or any other parliamentarian or Canadian," he said.
Batters said she wasn't "doxing" the senators — the practice of publishing private or identifying information online — by reposting a message that named them and listed their office phone numbers. She said she didn't intend to harass anyone.
"The post that was put out did not contain anyone's personal emails or phone numbers," she said in her defence. "I hear from farmers every day who are extremely upset about this bill not being passed. They wanted to know who was holding up this bill."
Petitclerc said "the line has clearly been crossed."
"My nine-year-old son came home from school and asked me why his mother was on a gangster picture against farmers," she said, referring to the 'Wild West' social media post.
In response to Plett's reference to hashing things out, Petitclerc said, "Well, no, I don't feel like going out for a beer and laughing it out."
Bill C-234, introduced by Conservative MP Ben Lobb last year, was amended by a Senate committee to strip out certain provisions.
When the legislation was brought back to the full Senate, senators struck down the committee's amended version of the bill, which would have left heating out.
Forty-two senators, including many Trudeau appointees, voted against the amended bill, while 28 voted in favour of it and three abstained.
The bill, as originally passed by the Commons, is awaiting a final vote before it either dies or passes the Senate.