Mr. Speaker, it is with some reluctance that I rise to bring the issue that I am to the floor of the House. It is the issue of what went on earlier today in question period, what I would call one of disrespect for the chair and its occupant.
It is a privilege of all of us, perhaps even our duty, to be as partisan as we feel necessary in order to make our points in this House. I for one, who has been around here for a long time, some might say too long, have been more than partisan upon occasion, both as a government supporter and an opposition MP, which I also was, as your Honour will know, for a very long time.
In all the years that I have been in this Chamber I have not yet witnessed what I saw occur here today in terms of asking questions, not only referring to the Speaker as “a prominent Liberal MP” but also to ask directly in a subsequent question about what Mr. Speaker as a person said outside of this Chamber.
Mr. Speaker, I bring to your attention Citation 168 of Beauchesne's Sixth Edition, on page 49 of this document. It says of the occupant of the chair:
The chief characteristics attached to the office of Speaker in the House of Commons are authority and impartiality. As a symbol of the authority of the House, the Speaker is preceded by the Mace which is carried by the Sergeant-at-Arms and is placed upon the Table when the Speaker is in the Chair. The Speaker calls upon Members to speak. In debate all speeches are addressed to the Speaker. When rising to preserve order or to give a ruling the Speaker must always be heard in silence. No Member may rise when the Speaker is standing. Reflections upon the character or actions of the Speaker may be punished as breaches of privilege. The actions of the Speaker cannot be criticized incidentally in debate or upon any form of proceeding except by way of a substantive motion.
This has been a consistent ruling as outlined in the Journals as early as June 4, 1956. These are very old principles in our Parliament and must be respected. I believe that they are by the vast majority of us. Hopefully they will be in the future by all of us.
I read further:
Confidence in the impartiality of the Speaker is an indispensable condition of the successful working of procedure, and many conventions exist which have as their object, not only to ensure the impartiality of the Speaker but also, to ensure that there is a general recognition of the Speaker's impartiality.
The Speaker takes no part in debate in the House, and votes only when the Voices are equal, and then only in accordance with rules which preclude an expression of opinion upon the merits of a question.
The rules of this House are quite clear for all of us. I believe, notwithstanding anything that members might have said, that these rules are well known either explicitly or implicitly by all of us. Even if they were not, the proper rules of decorum in which all of us are to operate would dictate that everything I have just said should be the basis of our working here in Parliament.
I, for one, and I am sure all of my colleagues have the utmost confidence not only in the great office of the Speaker, but in the present occupant of the chair and those who support and fulfil this very important function.