By Philip Alves
Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman was smoked out of the provincial legislature last week for using the word ?misled? during a debate on tobacco retail regulations in question period.
And that?s how he planned it.
The word, considered unparliamentary, was levelled at Minister of Health Promotion Margarett Best during an April 10 exchange on upcoming changes to the way cigarettes can be displayed for sale.
At the request of the Speaker, the sergeant-at-arms escorted Shurman from the legislature after he refused three times to withdraw the word.
?I had made up my mind before I walked into the house that this would happen and that I would not withdraw,? the rookie MPP said Monday. ?There?s an element of theatrics in what happens in question period on all party?s parts.?