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United Conservative MLAs were forbidden from speaking about a government bill that established protest-free zones around abortion clinics, says a former UCP MLA.

Prab Gill, Independent member for Calgary-Greenway, says he was whipped into toeing the party line during Bill 9 debate.

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“I was not free to speak out about it or even vote to represent my constituents on the bill. Independent thought was not welcome,” he said in question period Thursday.

Gill spoke up in the wake of accusations by former New Democrat MLA for Calgary-East, Robyn Luff, who left the house to protest what she says is top-down control of the NDP caucus by party brass.

Standing in the house, Gill declared “rot is firmly entrenched in both establishment parties and … when I was in the Tory caucus I, too, was silenced and whipped.”

“Is it the government’s policy to control independent thought, just as the Tories do?” Gill asked.