Despite a recent pledge to restore order and civility to the House of Commons, NDP leader Jack Layton was the least civil Parliamentarian prior to this spring's election, according to researchers' analysis of Question Period.

The civility index from McMaster University and a Toronto-based research firm rated all Parliamentarians who asked or answered at least 50 questions during the last sitting of Parliament. On the scale from zero to 100, Layton was at the bottom of the list at 39, while Conservative MP Rona Ambrose held the highest score for MPs.

Speaker Peter Milliken received the highest score at 80.

McMaster's Alex Sevigny said there was no surprise to see opposition leaders and MPs at the lower end of the scale, which was determined after "coders" were trained to watch sessions of Question Period and identify the level of rudeness based on factors such as aggression and anger.

"If Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton scored less high on the index, it stands to reason because they're making forceful points and trying to put forward a perspective and a point of view," Sevigny said. "The government . . . has a certain voice of authority that comes with that and they can be calmer in answering questions (by) providing lists of achievements. There's a structural bias built into that . . . (and) I suspect that as we do this going forward, opposition will possibly always rank lower than government," he added.

"One of the take-aways from this is that structural factors really matter in Question Period. If you have more members, you can be more vocal in cheering and if you're in opposition, you're probably going to come off as more challenging. It's interesting from that perspective."

Sevigny, along with his McMaster communications counterpart Philip Savage and Andrew Laing of Cormex Research found in their analysis that despite the amount of fighting in the House of Commons, MPs receive applause to their comments or questions 75 per cent of the time. Booing was cited in six per cent of cases. Their findings are scheduled for release Wednesday at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Fredericton.

On a per-issue basis, the topics of Afghanistan and education were met with the most civil responses in Parliament, the index said. Lower grades were experienced when the topics of national unity, elections, scandals and the government's record were discussed.

Although Ambrose had the highest MP rating, the index found the average among all eligible government MPs was 54. The average among eligible MPs from all parties, however, was registered at 49, and 43 for opposition MPs.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe were the only party leaders above the civility average of all party MPs. Harper scored 50 while Duceppe — who was defeated in the May 2 vote — scored a 51.

By contrast, Layton's score of 39 was closely followed by Ignatieff at 40.

On a party basis, NDP representatives scored 41, with the Liberals at 42.

Last week, the NDP — in its new role of official Opposition — said it aimed to restore civility in the House of Commons and the NDP's biggest rabble rouser has even promised to lead the charge.

Moments after leader Layton publicly addressed his caucus for the first time since a record 103 New Democrats were elected, self-proclaimed "loudmouth" Pat Martin pulled out a set of colourful buttons bearing the words "Opto Civilitas."

"I choose civility. That's the new me," he proclaimed.

He plans to hand them out when Parliament resumes June 2.

Layton was not available for an interview on Tuesday.

Sevigny said as social media continues to increase its presence with public commentary on matters such as Question Period — which doesn't just rely on mainstream media for coverage anymore in a sea of tweets — it may lead to a change in behaviour of MPs as they attempt to come across in a warmer light to a broader reporting audience.

bbouzane@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/bouzane