Mr. Speaker, I participate in this question of privilege on behalf of my party with a great deal of reluctance. However, having listened to what has been said, this is not a debate about the appropriateness of the flag or whatever.
Mr. Speaker, we made the arguments in the House of Commons in the usual thoughtful and eloquent way before we recessed. We asked that you make a decision on the appropriateness of what happened. That is the issue and you are weighing that decision now.
However, while you were making that decision and presumably looking at the Debates and contemplating the comments that were made, some members of this House—I do not want to identify them—made comments such as “he will demand the Speaker's removal if he rules in favour of the BQ”. Another person said “if he rules any other way I am most offended and I think we will have to call for the election of a new Speaker”. Somebody else went on to say “there will be grave consequences if he does not rule in favour of our position”. Another warned that the Speaker would face demands for his resignation.
Mr. Speaker, those are threats to you. People are going to demand your resignation. They are going to call for a vote if your decision does not go in their favour.
How many of us have listened to your decisions time and time again and the automatic reaction, whether or not we agree personally, is to accept those decisions and move on. We have to accept whatever decision you take as our representative elected by the House.