A Gladiatorial Arena: Incivility in the Canadian House of Commons

In parliamentary systems, it is common for legislatures to offer a regular opportunity for their members to question government ministers. While these institutions fulfill an essential function for democratic accountability, they also represent an occasion for incivility to creep into political discourse. This article investigates the incidence of uncivil behavior in these institutions and identifies some of its covariates. Our focus is on the Canadian House of Commons. Using cutting-edge, open-source machine learning models, we measure the incidence and evolution of incivility in Question Periods from April 2006 to June 2021. We find significant evidence of uncivil behavior, especially insults and toxicity. Through a multivariate regression analysis, we show that variations in the incidence of uncivil behavior over time and across members of various parties are correlated with the time remaining until the next general election, the institutional roles of parties, the balance of power, and the language of interventions.