Thank you, Madam Chair.
Yes, I'll speak to the amendment.
I listened to Ms. Ashton's explanation of her amendment. That said, I'm still confused about the wording. The member said that the Leader of the Opposition thanked or encouraged extremists. Was she present? Do we have any evidence that someone heard something? Personally, when I meet a truck driver, no matter where he is, I tend to talk to him about the power of his engine, the number of hours worked per week or what he is going through.
The proposed motion is based on hearsay. However, we don't condemn people on the basis of hearsay. If Ms. Ashton or someone she knows was standing next to the Leader of the Opposition and could confirm that he made comments that led to this type of amendment, I would be prepared to listen to them. It makes no sense. If this kind of amendment can be proposed, we will certainly do some research over the past 150 years in order to propose amendments, because all members have spoken to someone at some point without being sure of the person's background. We might all be guilty of talking to someone about something we shouldn't have mentioned. If Ms. Ashton is sure of those statements, she should provide us with some evidence. As a legislator, I find this type of amendment purely partisan, which I find distressing and sad. What's happening right now is serious, and we're not going to let it happen. We need to pay close attention to that. We are all guilty of talking to someone about something at some point. Does that mean that we're going to propose amendments to comments made by all members of the House over the past 150 years? You would end up with tens of thousands of amendments.
I can assure you that we will.