Green Party Leader Elizabeth May took to Twitter Thursday to attack the NDP for heckling her into silence.
May was shouted down during debate on an Opposition Day motion from NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to meet with premiers to discuss the economy.
After Mulcair had spoken on the ongoing cost to clean up the Sydney tar ponds, May asked the NDP leader about whether his party intends to do something to combat climate change.
"I would like to ask the leader of the official opposition if, in his comparison between trade deficits and ecological deficits, he would advance the need to actually do something about the climate crisis rather than point fingers back and forth across the aisle," May said.
"The previous Liberal government had a plan in place. It would have reduced emissions. It would have..." May was stopped by NDP heckles before she could finish her question. She then sat down saying she could not be heard.
New Deputy Speaker Joe Comartin then gave the floor back to Mulcair rather than silencing the House and allowing May to finish her question. Something May would tweet about later.
It was May's first tweet, however, that sparked a firestorm online: "There's a first. I couldn't finish my question due to heckling from the NDP. So much for Jack Layton's call for civility."
The post has been retweeted well over 100 times, including by Liberal MP Justin Trudeau. The Liberal Party's account also chimed in support for May, as did Grit MP Carolyn Bennett.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW SLIDESHOW
May went on to tweet that "Usually when I sit down due to being heckled, the Speaker calls for order. New Deputy Speaker and it didn't happen." She would later temper her criticism of Comartin, tweeting: "I think the new Deputy Speaker is finding his feet."
May also spared the NDP's environment critic Megan Leslie from her critique, posting that "I doubt very much Megan was yelling. The noise was mostly male voices. It was clearly most of NDP caucus. Not all."
In 2007, May signed a non-aggression pact with the Liberals ahead of the 2008 election. The Liberals, then under Stephane Dion, agreed not to run a candidate in the riding of Central Nova where May was attempting to unseat then-Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and the Greens did not run against Dion in his Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent-Cartierville.
That didn't stop the Green Party leader from supporting the NDP, along with the Liberals and Bloc Québécois, during the coalition crisis of 2008. In fact, May even said she had discussed a possible Senate appointment for herself with Dion.
Despite past co-operation, May ruled out a merger with the NDP and Liberals in 2011, arguing the Greens are simply too different from the more mainstream parties.
Perhaps this latest incident will put any doubts about that decision to rest.
Video via SleepyRobAnders on YouTube. Get the latest videos on Twitter.
Also on HuffPost
Best MPs On Twitter
