Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We'll get used to this.
Mr. Chair, I have a second motion, still in connection with Standing Order 106(4) and the letter duly sent by the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois.
The motion has already been sent to the clerk and it reads as follows:
That given the obscene and offensive comments made by the Liberal MP for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell to a witness defending the cause of the French language in Quebec. Be it resolved that the committee report to the House: a) that the Chief Government Whip and member of the Liberal leadership team immediately remove MP Francis Drouin from the Standing Committee on Official Languages and; b) that MP Francis Drouin resign as the Chair of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.
Mr. Chair, I believe, despite of my feelings of friendship for my colleague, that he is at fault. The matter was spread out over four days in a process of redemption, as I was saying earlier, in which the MP took a variety of stances, such as not apologizing, apologizing in advance, apologizing conditionally and finally apologizing by availing himself of a procedural flaw.
These are not genuine apologies. We find it unacceptable for the Prime Minister, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Transport to have pulled out all the stops to defend their colleague.
In spite of my great respect for the member, we are in politics, and I don't think he still has the credibility required to be a member of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, or to be the president of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.