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Canada's Conservative leader ejected from House of Commons

Watch: Canada's leader of the opposition calls Trudeau 'wacko'

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was ejected from Canada's House of Commons after fiery exchanges with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mr Poilievre's removal came after he refused to apologise for calling Mr Trudeau a "wacko" and "extremist" during a question period.

They were debating British Columbia's controversial decriminalisation of hard drugs.

Rachael Thomas, another Conservative MP, was also expelled.

The tense exchange comes as British Columbia's government - from Canada's New Democratic Party, or NDP - seeks to reverse the province's landmark decriminalisation of drugs.

During the exchange in the national parliament, Mr Trudeau accused Mr Poilievre of "shamefully" flirting with "white nationalists", a reference to recent images showing him with protesters at an anti-carbon price protest that featured flags and symbols of groups including the far-right group Diagalon.

Mr Poilievre, in turn, characterised Mr Trudeau's comments as his "latest distraction" from his own "extremist policies".

"When will we put an end to this wacko policy by this wacko prime minister?" he said.

By this point, Speaker Greg Furgus had already expelled Ms Thomas for calling the prime minister "disgraceful".

He intervened again, calling Mr Poilievre comments "unacceptable" and asking him to "simply withdraw them".

When Mr Poilievre failed to do so, Speaker Fergus ejected him from the chamber.

The bulk of Conservative MPs followed.

"Today the Liberal speaker censored me for describing Trudeau's hard drug policy as wacko," Mr Poilievre said on Twitter, also called X. "This is a wacko policy from a wacko PM that's destroying lives."

British Columbia's decriminalisation project, which began in January 2023, has faced increasing pushback over public disorder and drug use concerns.

Earlier in April the province announced that it would re-criminalise the use of hard drugs in public, partly rolling back the policy.

Police will soon have the power to again address drug use in all public places, including hospitals, restaurants, parks and beaches.

It is unclear when the new rules will come into force. The province said it is working with the federal government to "urgently" change the policy.