Again, Mr. Chair, I would just like to reiterate that the Standing Orders, obviously, again, make no reference to how long witnesses have to be given to respond to a question. It also does not mention there if there has to be a difference between asking a question or making comment.
When we're talking about a bill such as this one, it would be absolutely unrealistic to expect the son of an immigrant not to come here with an emotional reaction and not to make comment. I wonder if the member would have the exact same feeling on the behaviour that he gave when the minister appeared before this committee, if he would characterize his own behaviour as bush league.
The reality is, Mr. Chair, that he's elected. If that's the way he wants to act when somebody is here and wants to ask questions, that's his right to do so. I certainly don't go out into the public and suggest that he doesn't have the right to represent his constituents the way he wants to represent his constituents. I certainly don't go out in public and, like some grade two kid in the schoolyard, start throwing insults back and forth because that makes me somehow feel better. It went against everything that we've been talking about in this committee with respect to this bill in the last two meetings.
Frankly, I'm not hiding behind the people of Markham, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned in committee, I had the opportunity to speak to many people. I have a very large family and I have a very large Italian community in my community. Many of the people I spoke to had the same feelings that I have with respect to this particular bill.
Do 100% of them? Absolutely not. Are some of the people I spoke to in favour of what Mr. Pacetti has brought forward? Sure, they are. But I've been elected to represent all of those people. He is calling me a bush league member of Parliament, and the comments that I brought forward, through those people, as being bush league somehow, because they are immigrants and they aren't always able to speak on their own behalf. Perhaps my uncle, who has been in this country since the late fifties, might have liked to have come and spoken to this, but he still doesn't have the best grasp of the language. He's probably a little bit frightened to do something like that. Your comments, basically, threw in his face his inability to do that, threw in the face of every single person I had spoken to leading up to this that somehow they are unworthy of expressing their opinions through their elected member of Parliament because their opinion is different from yours.
I think you owe them a better apology than that. You owe them an apology in public and in this place for your comments. Perhaps you can reflect on that in the future. There are a lot of individuals out there who don't necessarily agree with you, who have a difference of opinion, who might want to reflect those opinions through their member of Parliament. You might want to reflect in the future on how you express your disagreement.
I can assure you that when my father came here, he didn't speak a word of English; my uncles didn't speak a word of English, and they were able to build extraordinary things in this country. They did a hell of a lot for this country, as have all immigrants from all over, not just Italians. And when you tell them that their comments are unworthy of Parliament or of a committee of Parliament, you throw it in the face of everybody who's sacrificed so much to come to this country. I think perhaps that's what you should reflect on, not the ridiculous apology, or purported apology, that you just gave.
