Liberal MP Will Amos (Pontiac, Que.) – who was filmed both naked and urinating during meetings – has been censured by the Commons for misconduct, says Blacklock’s Reporter.
MPs referred Amos to questioning by the House affairs committee after he first appeared naked, then urinated during videoconferences.
“As soon as an MP logs into a virtual session and opens their camera it is considered to be, for all intents and purposes, in the House,” said Speaker Anthony Rota, who cited Amos by name.
“There is no dispute about the facts. They constitute a serious breach of the rules of decorum and an affront against the dignity of the House.”
No one spoke in Amos’ defence but the two-term MP earlier apologized for the May 26 incident in which he urinated off-camera while attending to House business by videoconference.
“I am deeply embarrassed by my actions,” said Amos.
The MP was stripped of his $18,000-a year appointment as parliamentary secretary for industry but retained his Commons seat and $185,800 salary.
“Obviously when we have a case of someone literally exposing themselves to the House on two different occasions, that is a pretty serious matter and one that does deserve to be reviewed by the House affairs committee,” said Conservative MP Blake Richards (Banff-Airdrie, Alta.), Chief Opposition Whip.
“What we have seen is maybe a bit of a pattern of a general degradation of decorum and debate in this chamber.
“That stems from a lot of people being more relaxed and comfortable because they are at home or in their own offices and sometimes forget that they are still in proceedings of the House of Commons. It is something that is very difficult, if not impossible, to do when people are here in this chamber.”
MP Amos was re-elected two years ago with 49% of the vote in his Ottawa-area riding. The former Sierra Club director had previously run the University of Ottawa’s Environmental Law Clinic.
Amos prior to the urinating incident appeared nude on camera during an April 14 Commons videoconference.
Liberal MPs at the time defended Amos as a victim of crude gibes who’d made an innocent error in walking through his office without clothing.
“That was an image of another member naked,” Liberal MP Mark Holland (Ajax, Ont.), Chief Government Whip, told a May 13 hearing of the Commons Board of Internal Economy.
“That image was then disseminated across the planet. Because of that decision, a member of Parliament and his family were subjected to the image of him naked on late night talk shows in England and the United States and on social media sites around the world.”
“I have had members from both sides of the House come to me and ask, ‘What does that mean for the lobby?’ ‘If I’ve had a red-eye flight and I come into the lobby and a member of Parliament can come in and take an unflattering picture of me with my shirt dishevelled, perhaps my bra showing or perhaps my underwear showing, is that now fair game?’”
Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard
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