HECKLING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

   For Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, Man.) heckling over Zoom is still “unfortunately” easy to do.
   “The reason I say unfortunate is because I think that virtual Parliament has really changed the nature of heckling,” he said. “When somebody unmutes themselves to make a comment during somebody else’s speech the camera will switch to them.”
   The person who actually has the floor, he added, is instead entirely cut off from the microphone, strongly contrasting the nature of in-the-Chamber heckling, where Members’ speeches are typically not entirely disrupted by others.
   Because of this, it’s possible to take over the floor in a way that MPs couldn’t before, Mr. Blaikie said.
   “Imagine if you were in the House and you could press a button and stand up and turn off the microphone of the speaker and turn on your own microphone and have the camera pointed at you … [that] would be dysfunctional.”