Thank you.
I want to go back to one of the points I was trying to make before.
I certainly hope, Monsieur Mayrand, that you would agree with me when I say that to remove a member from his seat and remove his ability to vote is probably one of the most serious sanctions that could be invoked upon a sitting member of Parliament. In fact, I would suggest to you, and I again hope you would agree, that it should be absolutely the last resort instead of trying to find a settlement, a resolution to a dispute. In this case, it was an accounting dispute.
I go back to the fact that Mr. Bezan had a two-week window in which to file a court application that would have relieved the imposition that you had set yourself on the filing of a corrected return. You didn't wait for that two weeks. You didn't allow him the two weeks to file a court injunction. You sent the letter to Speaker Scheer a week prior to the deadline.
I'm wondering why, knowing as you do that it's such a serious sanction. Rather than putting Mr. Bezan and his constituents through that, why not just wait until he files the court application to see whether that in fact is accepted? Then you wouldn't have the need to send the letter to Speaker Scheer. We wouldn't be here today. Mr. Bezan wouldn't have been portrayed in the press—by some—as a cheater.