Chris Wattie / Reuters Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a formal apology for the Komagata Maru incident in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Can we discuss the privilege involved in calling an accidental elbow "deeply traumatic" during a debate on an assisted-dying bill? ‪

I think it's clear that everyone was in the wrong in this #Elbowgate fiasco. I'm not going to defend the Prime Minister for giving into his frustration and wading into what grown-up parliamentarian Elizabeth May described as "mischief" on the floor, or for frustrating the opposition in the first place by trying to limit debate.

I think it's clear that everyone was in the wrong in this #Elbowgate fiasco.

The eventual blow-up was a result of, as May also described it in an ironic turn-of-phrase, "a tit for tat escalation" of political squabbling. It began with the Liberals' nearly lost vote on Monday and ended on Wednesday night with NDP and Conservative delay tactics worthy of a kindergartner who moves in slow-mo because they don't want to go to bed.

Something got lost in all this childish behaviour, especially once Tom Mulcair transitioned from apparently laughing at Trudeau losing his cool to losing his own cool and screaming that the Prime Minister was "pathetic" for accidentally elbowing NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the chest.

(And to give May one more word here, the Green Party leader who owes nobody anything was right there and confirmed it was clearly "unintentional.")

What got lost was the bill they were debating, Bill C-14, the government's assisted-dying legislation.

And it fell further from prominence once the NDP, the party that allegedly wants to make this bill better, saw an opportunity to use the accident as political leverage against the Prime Minister and perhaps for their own leadership ambitions.

"I want to say that for all of us who witnessed this, this was deeply traumatic," said NDP MP Niki Ashton, adding she was "ashamed" to have seen it.

Well, that's not what she should be ashamed about.

You know what is actually deeply traumatic? How about being a person in so much pain and suffering that you want the help of the state to end your life.