Thank you. This is a point of order of which I have given you previous notice, Mr. Chair.
This deals with the point of order that I had raised just as the last committee was being gavelled shut. I have several things to say.
First of all, since the cameras were still rolling, and the microphones, too, people will be aware that I used some terms that are not parliamentary. I'm not sure whether one withdraws non-parliamentary language after a meeting that took place outside of a parliamentary reading in the formal sense, so I guess I'm not in a position to withdraw it. But I am in a position to say the following. This is what I'd intended to raise in the point of order at that time. I believed, at that point, that had we sought it we might have been able to come to a unanimous consensus in which Mr. Simms might have been willing to withdraw his motion. I, of course, as a part of that, would have been happy to withdraw my amendment to his motion. I think if we try going around the table today, we might get success in that.
While I have the floor, Mr. Chair, I will just state publicly something you're already aware of, which is that I've given a letter to the clerk and to you outlining what I believe were four points in which you, in your capacity as chair, over the course of that epic meeting, were in violation of either the practices of the House, as enumerated in O'Brien and Bosc, or else of the Standing Orders. Those are enumerated, and I would like to raise that at a future appropriate time, after we deal with the matter of privilege before us and perhaps other matters that are of importance to the committee, and at a time that is deemed suitable by the members of the committee.
I do, however, want to say—and I take a fair chunk of the letter I've given to you to point this out—that while those specific problems are important to me as issues of privilege, I do not mean to denigrate your overall chairmanship of this extraordinary and indeed unique meeting. I thought that your chairmanship on the whole was absolutely outstanding. I already had a high regard for you as a parliamentarian, and indeed in leaving the 55th meeting, my regard is higher than it was before, based upon the overall way in which you handled things over that long period of time. But I do think it's important to deal with these matters, because I think it's important that we are clear as to which practices are acceptable and which are not.
That was really all I had to say, Mr. Chair. I thank you for the fact that you allowed me the time.
