OTTAWA - NDP House leader Nathan Cullen says the referee of the House of Commons needs to blow the whistle and toss more MPs in the penalty box for bad behaviour.

"We are suggesting to the Speaker and to the other leaders in the House that those MPs who continue to ignore the Speaker's call for decorum will have questions taken away from them or their parties if they refuse to fall in line," Cullen said.

One of the Speaker's main duties is to maintain order in the Commons, but Cullen says Andrew Scheer should do more to crack down on derogatory comments and loud shouting during question period in the lower chamber.

"The Speaker has the power to do this," Cullen said. "But what he has been lacking is the political will from those of us who represent the parties in the House to say, 'If we are the ones causing the problems, you must take questions away from us.'"

In December, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau called Environment Minister Peter Kent "a piece of s---."

Interim Grit leader Bob Rae cursed outside of the Commons, referring to party infighting by two Grits as "bull----" on Twitter.

NDP MP Pat Martin also used Twitter to drop F-bombs to express his feelings about Parliament in 2011.
Cullen claims the NDP is willing to be subjected to penalties for misbehaving MPs and he's hopeful other parties will be on side with the proposal.

"We are not against passionate debate," he said. "When we are standing and representing the voices of Canadians, we must hold ourselves to another level."

- with files from Mark Dunn