Right, and that tone I'll take with him. I certainly wasn't with you, Speaker.
Next I want to follow up on Mr. Graham's comment about access, because we've been here before. It's almost always after the fact, when there has been a crisis, and then we do a whole review. Monsieur Godin was one example. There have been at least two others since I've been here.
Every time we ask ahead of time we're told, “Yes, don't worry”, and then inevitably there's a problem. There was a problem the last time. I didn't raise it because it wasn't big enough and it was early in the term, but the green bus that I was on was stopped from getting to Centre Block, and we were told we couldn't go any further. Quite frankly, everybody was unceremoniously dumped. That was fine. We walked across the lawn. However, one of my colleagues—I won't mention her name—had a temporary disability and was using a cane. She still had to walk across the front lawn in order to get to Centre Block.
Speaker, I am asking, I am all but pleading, to please make sure that these things are thought through ahead of time. Identify a route that works. The last thing we want to do is risk the security of an honoured visitor to our country, but we have been emphasizing over and over, since Canada was formed, the absolute, unfettered right of parliamentarians to access Centre Block, and yet it keeps happening.
I'm asking you and I'm asking everyone there to try to get ahead of this thing. Think ahead of time, when there's a crunch, about how you get the members to the House. It is a constitutional requirement. Hearing “sorry” afterwards is getting a little frustrating. I am urging you and Monsieur Duheme to please keep in mind, as a priority, when you are putting those barriers in, how the members get to the House, given that they have a constitutional right.
I'll leave that with you.