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OTTAWA — The Speaker issued a broad plea for better behaviour in the House of Commons on Wednesday as he chastised the Opposition New Democrats for openly questioning his neutrality during question period.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair called Scheer’s impartiality into question Tuesday after Conservative MP Paul Calandra gave a completely unrelated answer to Mulcair’s question on the Iraqi mission.

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Mulcair’s plea for an intervention appeared to fall on deaf ears, prompting the leader to say, “That does not speak very favourably about your neutrality in this House.” At that point, Scheer denied Mulcair the chance to ask his remaining questions.

On Wednesday, Scheer suggested he could have gone further, noting that to challenge the Speaker’s character can be seen as a punishable breach of privilege. He did not elaborate on what punishment he might have meted out.

Besides, Scheer added, until MPs themselves change the rules, long-standing tradition means the Speaker can’t interfere with answers given during question period.