During conversation, MP Denise Savoie is quick to slip in a dig at her political opponents.

There’s a fine line, however, between dissent and bullying -- a style she says has taken over the House of Commons.

“I think you can have strong debate without resorting to intimidation, heckling and catcalling,” said the Victoria New Democrat.

It’s this lack of civility she’s taking on as assistant deputy speaker, a new role she accepted after the October federal election.

Several times a week she’s called upon to chair the debates, set the speaking order, rule on points of order and maintain other routine procedures of the House.

She wants to bring in workshops to introduce MPs to nonviolent communication.

On several occasions she said she’s made it clear to hecklers that she won’t recognize future requests to speak if bad behaviour continues.

Even her own NDP members aren’t immune to her chastisements.

“I pick on them equally,” she said.

Impartiality between NDP and other party members comes with the job. To be seen as impartial, however, also requires her to keep out of debates while presiding over them.

It’s the hard part of the job, she said.

“I accepted the job because of the dismal tone and my desire to see change, but at the same time ... I want to get up and say ‘hey, what about this issue?’

“I hear comments by the government to say they’ve contributed the most to housing and yet I see the figures are really distorted.”

While frustrating, being occasionally barred from debate isn’t much of a disadvantage, said University of Victoria political science professor Dennis Pilon.

“If the (New Democrats) lose one person to be the Speaker every now and then it’s not really going to weaken them that much.”

On the plus side, the good will generated by the speaker’s impartial ceremonial role often translates into more votes, he added.

“The difficulty is ... that confrontation is the only part that that gets any coverage,” he said. “Opposition parties often have difficulty getting the attention of media so they might not want to tone down their rhetoric.”

rholmen@saanichnews.com