Canada

The federal Liberals and NDP say conservative politicians are displaying a pattern of attacks against Speakers' independence, an allegation the Conservatives in Ottawa strongly deny.

The accusation comes a day after the federal Conservatives tried and failed for the third time to get House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus to resign over claims he is too partisan for the role.

Their attempts are designed to intimidate and delay House work, government House leader Steven MacKinnon said.

"The fact is that this culture of intimidating the chair is something we have seen in other legislatures and I think Canadians are rightly horrified by it," he said.