I did not want to begin this without saying the words that all Speakers have used for hundreds of years now.
Hon. members, I beg to return my humble acknowledgements to the House for the great honour you have been pleased to confer upon me by choosing me to be your Speaker.
I want to thank you, my colleagues, for your vote of confidence today. It is very much appreciated and I take it to heart.
I also want to thank all members who ran for the position of Speaker. I want to acknowledge their presence here and thank them for leaving their names on the list.
There are some who say this House will be lively in the 36th Parliament. I have never been in a Parliament that has not been lively. Why should it not be? You have come here because you have been chosen to be the spokespersons for Canadians across the land. You are going to hold strong opinions, and as well you should.
And it is here, on the floor of the House of Commons, that we will have a chance to express our views.
The last time I had the honour to be elected your Speaker I said that we are the political gladiators of Canada, and we are. Our weapons are our words, our ideas, our beliefs. That is why things are lively.
However, we can do our job in a spirit of respect for one another and for this institution.
My task is to see to it that the rights and privileges of all of you parliamentarians of Canada are protected. Generally speaking we have, you and I, three basic rights and privileges.
We have the right to come to this place. We have the right to speak unafraid and we have the right to vote. I pledge to you that I will carry out my duties in a spirit of fairness and impartiality. I am, as you know, a servant of this House. It is the House collectively that makes decisions as to whether it wants to change and how it will change.
Parliamentarians of Canada, for the next few years because of circumstance, because of history and yes, because of destiny, the fate of our nation will rest in our hands.
My dear colleagues, thank you again for the honour that you have bestowed on me today.
And now, on to the work of this Parliament. I thank you very much.