Heckling Conservative MPs nearly drowned out Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly Friday as she tried to field questions about the $5.6 million Parliament Hill rink she approved as a costly wrap-up for Canada 150 events in the capital.

The raucous verbal assault came primarily from male MPs on the Conservative benches. It erupted as Joly was attempting to respond to a question from Conservative Cathy McLeod, who was comparing the cost of the project to the needs of Indigenous communities in northern Canada going without community rinks and much vital infrastructure.

McLeod referred to a recent news report saying Joly had suggested the Parliament Hill rink — part of what was to be a 25-day spectacle to wrap up Canada 150 celebrations — would be donated to a needy community in the national capital region once the celebration ended.

“We are standing two blocks away from the longest skating rink in the world,” McLeod said, alluding to the nearby Rideau Canal, which in winter becomes a manicured skating rink stretching nearly eight kilometres from its starting point a few blocks from Parliament Hill to a small lake in the city’s southern neighbourhoods.

“Will the minister at least commit to sending this rink to a community in the north, where the season is long and the need is great?” said McLeod.

Joly on Thursday confirmed the government would extend the Hill rink’s operation into February, after only a day earlier saying that the government was determined to limit the rink to barely over three weeks for a mix of public skating and hockey demonstrations.

Although Joly ducked McLeod’s question, the Conservatives heckling barrage deflected attention away from the point of McLeod’s question. McLeod represents a rural riding in the B.C. interior and is the Conservative shadow critic for Canada’s north.

“I really hope I will have the chance to go on the ice, and enjoy skating with her, this is a great way to celebrate Canada 150 …” Joly said in beginning her reply, before being drowned out by the din across the aisle.

“It’s a waste of money,” one particularly loud male Conservative shouted just before the acting Speaker in the House — Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes, a New Democrat MP — called for quiet.

“I know that it’s Friday and the day is going to end pretty soon, but, again, I would just ask people to restrain themselves just a little while longer,” Hughes said, lightly admonishing the Conservatives.

Only a few minutes later, Hughes had to calm the Conservatives down again as Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough was herself shouted down while responding to an opposition question about the federal government’s Phoenix payroll quagmire.

McLeod said later she was sincere in her question about the need for community facilities in the North, particularly in isolated Indigenous villages.

“What I was simply saying is that Ottawa has a lot of important recreational facilities. Spending $5.6 million for a temporary structure on Parliament Hill doesn’t sit well with taxpayers,” McLeod told iPolitics.

“But I also wanted to make the point that they’ve spent the money, they better make sure it goes to good use, and we have communities up in the north where we know they have long seasons, and they have great need. They have no community facilities at all.”