First of all I want to thank you, Mr. Christopherson, on behalf of not only myself but of all the members of the government for reading Madam Brosseau's statement into the record today. We know that what transpired on May 18 was not a good day for Parliament, for all of us. For example, I look at our conduct yesterday. We know that we behaved much better yesterday, let's put it that way, and I hope that this becomes the standard of practice for all of us in the House of Commons.
I understand we all have very strong personalities and we get into heated debates. Things that led up to the circumstances on May 18 caused tempers for many of the members to rise for various reasons. It is what it is. We all know what transpired that day. I take the fact that starting from the Prime Minister all the way down to all of the members involved, we want to move on and that we need to conduct ourselves in a much more respectful manner. I hope it's a learning moment for all of us.
We're sure to get into instances again in the future, to be blunt, where we will feel strongly about particular issues, but at the end of the day I hope that we're all respectful enough to one another that we can have differences of opinion, that this is the forum in which we express those differences of opinion. When we cast our ballot, which is the ultimate expression of our democratic values in Parliament, we should try to avoid the circumstances that arose that particular day. I'm grateful for the statement from Madam Brosseau. I hope I speak for my colleagues that if this is the way in which those who were most affected by the actions of the Prime Minister, to whom you know he unreservedly apologized...then we accept that and thank you for it.