Mr. Speaker, Beauchesne's citation 26 states, and I read selectively: "A question of privilege is a question partly of fact and partly of law, the law of contempt of Parliament". It is in reference to that section that I believe the hon. member's comments should be thought of this afternoon.
The law of contempt of Parliament has been applied on several occasions by Speakers when people have made comments in regard to particular groups, such as derogatory comments against women and derogatory comments against others. I suggest very respectfully that the Speaker in the past has identified those comments as being unacceptable and offensive to the dignity of the House. Similarly as it applies to courts of law, a very senior judge of this country for having made equally unacceptable remarks only days ago was told promptly by Canadians and by our Minister of Justice that remarks of that nature were not acceptable.
For that reason and for the offence to the dignity of the House that I referred to in the citation of Beauchesne, I feel that the hon. member for Ottawa West is quite appropriate in bringing this unacceptable comment to the attention of the House.
The member in question who made the comment, in order to restore the dignity of this House should be rising now and withdrawing the remark. We could all then turn the page as we have done on many occasions in the past and restore the dignity of this Parliament.