Conservatives accuse PM Trudeau of uttering expletive in heated House exchange

Conservative members of Parliament are accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of cursing during a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The party says Trudeau uttered a “six-letter F-word” while in debate with national defence critic Kerry-Lynne Findlay about a military aircraft flying over Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy.

“Now we have learned that Canada’s special forces were operating surveillance aircraft – I’m sure they were just in training – over Ottawa during the February truckers protest … how can the prime minister justify using military assets to surveil Canadians?” Findlay asked.

In response, the prime minister said, “What the member opposite just engaged in is dangerously close to misinformation, disinformation and designed to gin up fears and conspiracy theories around what happened a number of months ago.”

At that moment you cannot see or hear what the prime minster said on the House of Commons video feed after answering the question, but later Conservative MP John Barlow stood up on a point of order asking the prime minister to apologize for the language he used.

The House Deputy Speaker Chris D’Entremont said he didn’t hear what the prime minister said. Conservative MP John Brassard asked the D’Entremont to consult debate transcripts and follow the appropriate measures, claiming Trudeau “dropped an F-bomb.”

There are rules prohibiting members of Parliament from using un-parliamentary language. After a review, should the speaker find the “utterances of a particular member offensive or disorderly,” that member will be requested to rise and withdraw the word or phrase.

Asked about the incident by reporters after question period, Trudeau made reference to a phrase used by his father who famously mouthed a four-letter expletive, but did not elaborate further on what he may or may not have said.

“What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you move your lips in a particular way,” the prime minister said, which was reminiscent of Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s comment, “What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say ‘fuddle duddle’ or something like that.”

On the issue of a military plane flying over Ottawa during the convoy protests, the Canadian Armed Forces told CTV News in a statement it was part of a training exercise that was planned prior to, and was unrelated to, the events on the ground.

“Cancelling such training would have been costly and would have had a negative impact on maintaining required certifications and qualifications, and thus on Canadian Armed Forces operational readiness,” a statement reads.

“We can also confirm that this training had nothing to do with the surveillance or the monitoring of activities.”

Watch the exchange at the top of this article.