On average, nobody cares what’s said during the debates at Queen’s Park. Outside of Question Period, which is televised daily and reliably features the liveliest business on the agenda, it’s rare for even the MPPs present to really get fired up about what’s going on.

So what was it that recently inspired hollering in the legislature and duelling accusations of disrespecting northern Ontario? An ill-fated attempt to honour the oldest of parliamentary debating traditions — the heckle.

Last Thursday, during a debate over the government’s Bill 152, the Representation Statute Amendment Act (which would create two new ridings in Ontario’s Far North and amend the province’s election finance laws), Tory MPP Norm Miller (Parry Sound–Muskoka) was speaking about his party’s respect for the North and his leader Patrick Brown’s dozens of trips to northern Ontario, when Liberal MPP Lou Rinaldi (Northumberland–Quinte West) was heard to say the words “no man’s land.” PC MPP Sam Oosterhoff, (Niagara–West Glanbrook) caught the remark and made sure to repeat it for the record, suggesting that Rinaldi had been describing the North. By Friday, northern media was running with the story.

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Rinaldi, speaking with TVO.org on Tuesday, said he hadn’t been referring to the North at all — his intended target was apparently the Tories, who, he claimed, had been speaking at length about everything except the bill that was actually before them.

“Mr. Fedeli [PC MPP for Nipissing] was speaking about anything, almost, but about the bill,” Rinaldi said. “So at one point, I said, ‘Talk about the bill, because right now you’re in no man’s land.’” But he left the chamber before the debate wrapped up in preparation for Question Period that morning, and so didn’t realize that his offhand remark had already been singled out by the Tories.

Bills generally need to be debated for certain minimum amounts of time before they can move to the next stage of the process, and sometimes MPPs go way off topic. Shortly after the 2014 election, then rookie MPP Arthur Potts memorably filled some debate time with off-the-cuff remarks about the etymology of the word “maiden.” It happens. In this case, according to Hansard’s official transcript, although Vic Fedeli was indeed speaking about the effect of Liberal policymaking on the North, he wasn’t sticking strictly to the merits of the government’s two proposed new seats.

Despite the fact that Rinaldi has been explaining himself, and his intentions, since Friday, the Tories have spent this week pointing to his Queen’s Park remark as proof the government doesn’t care about the North. The Liberals, in turn, have used Tory questions as opportunities to highlight their spending in the region. The New Democrats, who actually hold the most northern seats in the legislature, have opted not to get into this particular fight.

On Monday, the Tories started laying into the government for the alleged slur against northern Ontario. At one point, Rinaldi responded to Romano’s own heckling by shouting “Say it outside” — which was probably not an invitation to meet for a fight by the bike racks around back (yes, Queen’s Park has bike racks around back), but instead a challenge for his antagonist to test his insults against defamation law, which applies to what MPPs say everywhere except in the chamber itself. Rinaldi says he later apologized to Speaker Dave Levac for the disruption.

On Tuesday, the Tories were back at it, and unlike on Monday, they had Premier Kathleen Wynne in the house to take their questions. She was quick to defend Rinaldi.

“The member for Northumberland–Quinte West is one of the best-respected members in this House. He’s a fine man. He has travelled this province. He has been in every corner of this province,” Wynne said Tuesday.

PC Leader Patrick Brown said Monday he doesn’t intend to turn down the rhetorical temperature at the legislature.

“We’re going to speak honestly about what we’re hearing. We’re going to speak honestly about the challenges that exist in northern Ontario,” Brown said. “And, frankly, this government has let northern Ontario down.”

For his part, Rinaldi says he won’t apologize, even if doing so would help his party put the issue behind it.

“[The PCs] have really turned this upside down. There’s no ambiguity about what I said. So I’m not going to go down that road.”