House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer
House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer presides over Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa June 3, 2014. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Andrew Scheer, the Speaker of Canadian House of Commons, asked all the Members of Parliament to improve on their quality at the House. The instruction came after he had been accused of being partial to the government.

Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair expressed his disgust on Tuesday when Ontario MP Paul Calandra repeatedly dodged questions about Canada's mission and talked about something else. Mulcair was so infuriated with Scheer for not reminding Calandra about the replies being relevant that he questioned the integrity of the speaker for not being "neutral." Scheer said on Wednesday that the MPs should "raise the quality of both questions and answers" at the House.

CTV News reported that it was rare for Scheer to start the question period with a personal statement. The Speaker was apparently reacting to Muclair's earlier accusation against him in relation with his neutrality. Scheer referred to his January ruling which said that the Speaker did not have the authority to ensure the relevance or quality of replies given by the government. At the same time, Scheer asked the MPs to better the tone of the session.

Scheer read out from a statement to address the House before the commencement of the questioning session. "I also ask all members to heed my request of last January 28 when I asked members to consider how the House can improve things so that observers can at least agree that question period presents an exchange of views and provides at least some information," Scheer read out, "The onus is on all members to raise the quality of both questions and answers."

The Speaker also said that he could only intervene when a certain MP was engaged in personal attacks or un-parliamentary language. What Scheer read out was the 2010 ruling on the Speaker's role at the House, drafted by the-then Speaker Peter Milliken. Scheer said that Canadian Speakers did not have the tradition of intervening when a session was in progress. He said that Canadians would expect members to raise the standards in the substance and the tone of the questioning session. "I hope the House can rise to that challenge," he said.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au