I appreciate that. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, as I mentioned this earlier, what's really neat is that when we get a chance to travel with our colleagues from across the way, we really find out about them. I don't know if “belong” is the right word, but we really get to know them a little better. We put away our partisan politics. We can do it over breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We have discussions on a bus or in a plane. We really understand that they are human across the way. We forget that at times, don't we? We are all just human, and we're all here with the right intentions. We all want to do better for our communities and our country. I think this is something that gets lost at times.
Indeed, when trust is broken, regardless of who is sitting across the way from us, respect gets lost as well. I think we've seen that. As I mentioned before, respect is earned; it's not just given.
Are there things we need to do on all sides? I would say, yes, there are. I think respect is a two-way street. So is coming to a common ground, negotiating. We can either beat somebody over the head and make them understand our point of view, or educate them on our point of view and explain the reasons why we're doing the things we're doing.
Mr. Chair, maybe that is exactly what Ms. Sahota meant when she said—in her way of educating us—that the true intent of the discussion paper was to break that glass ceiling. She made the comment that the idea is that if we don't adopt reforms or new ways of doing business, we're never going to break that glass ceiling and we're not going to see more “reasonable people” enter this House, insinuating that we are not reasonable people. That's kind of what the comment was. I didn't take offence. I didn't get a chance to question her on it because my colleague Mr. Schmale was asking all the questions at the time, while I was patiently waiting to get to the floor.
I will inform you now, Mr. Chair, that I'll probably cede the floor shortly—not now, but shortly. I know I have other colleagues who want to have an opportunity. I think that's important. I said this at another point. I like the way we had the Simms rule or the Simms procedure. I would really like to see the 338 members of Parliament come in here and spend 10 minutes talking about how they feel about this. This impacts all of us. It doesn't impact just the opposition. One thing to remember, Mr. Chair—and for all our friends around the table and people who are listening—is that sooner or later the shoe drops and you're on the other side of the floor. How soon we forget. The changes that are made will impact those who come around next time.
Mr. Chair, I'm going to go into a couple of different areas, if I may. I'm almost there, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate that my colleague Mrs. Duncan is listening. Is it “Mrs.” or “Ms.”?