Thank you, Mr. Tunstall. I just wanted to get an answer to my question.
Essentially, my Liberal colleagues were trying to lay the blame for this mistake on the volunteers who put a banner in the video identifying Mr. Fergus as the Speaker of the House of Commons. It would actually have been difficult not to do that, since he was in his Speaker's garb. They were intelligent enough to understand that this was not Greg who made a video in a T‑shirt and jeans in his living room; it was the Speaker, who was wearing his robes very solemnly in his office on Parliament Hill. He may well have started the video by saying "hey buddy;" nobody can say "hey buddy" while wearing the Speaker's robes.
In my career, I spent a long time managing volunteers, and never, but never, will I say that volunteers made a mistake, because they do their best. The main error lay with the person who agreed to make the video and send it off. The problem we are discussing cannot be mitigated today by saying that some volunteers sent off a video and others inserted a banner into it saying "Speaker of the House of Commons." That is not the issue today.
The issue is that the Speaker, Greg Fergus, agreed to make a video to be sent to a friend he is very fond of—we have understood that—for it to be played at your event. The volunteers put the videos together and inserted a banner, but the primary responsibility lies with the person who agreed to make the video.
You do know that all of the parties in the House of Commons have acknowledged that this video undermines the confidence of the House. It is not just me, Claude DeBellefeuille, the Bloc Québécois whip, saying it. All of the parties admitted that it was a serious mistake. So I am sorry, but I am unable to lay the blame on the volunteers and party workers who did their best to make your event a success. You will let them know that we are not blaming them; on the contrary.
Now, I would like to know your opinion, since you have organized a lot of events. Do you think it is appropriate for the Speaker of a great Parliament like Canada's to make a video to be played at a partisan event?