Mr. Speaker, since you are about to make a ruling, I would like to tell you that if this amendment completely alters, as I think it does, the nature of the motion moved by the House leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, it should obviously be ruled out of order.
I have been listening with a mixture of amusement and sadness the arguments of the official opposition chief whip to the effect that a newspaper report should not be given so much significance. He said we should not give too much importance to comments reported in the media. Maybe the official opposition chief whip has just realized now that he is a public figure, that his comments can indeed be reported in the media, and that his comments as a member of this House are of some import.
He said he finds it distressing that this issue has been raised in the House. On the basis of remarks made outside the House concerning a deputy speaker, our former colleague for Rosemont was urged to withdraw his statement, despite the fact it had not been made in the House.
In my view, there are precedents, whether the official opposition chief whip likes it or not. Just two weeks ago, he condescendingly likened the members of the Bloc Quebecois to deer dazed by oncoming headlights. Listening to him a moment ago, he made me think of a child who has just broken a window pane, and closes his eyes pretending it did not happen.
What has happened is quite serious. Rather that letting the issue rest, as you asked, and wait for your ruling, a few members have decided deliberately to add fuel to the fire and inflame the situation, so that the debate has not been made more civilized, but uglier.
I hear the chief whip of the official opposition saying “My, it is so sad we have to talk about this, that we have to refer the matter to the Standing Committee on Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, that we have to drag members' reputations through the mud for months on end”.
The chief whip of the official opposition was far less scrupulous when what was involved was dragging the reputation of the former member for Charlesbourg through the mud, as he did outrageously a while ago by totally misrepresenting the words of that hon. member. The former member for Charlesbourg, I would remind you, had not invited the members of the Canadian Armed Forces to join the armed forces of an independent Quebec, but had merely raised that possibility. This matter was thoroughly examined by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, and it was decided at that time that there was no contempt of Parliament,
Probably the chief whip for the official opposition, being disappointed and somewhat frustrated with that decision, is referring to it today in order to indicate just how unfortunate and regrettable it would be if his colleagues were to have to appear before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to answer for something they said which was reported publicly in the media.
Mr. Speaker, I speak for my colleagues in stating that we are going to support this motion because it makes sense. We are going to support this motion because it is normal, if MPs challenge the authority of the Chair when it is required to make a ruling and attempt to influence that ruling with intimidation and threats, that they must face up to what they have said.
We are therefore going to support this motion, because it is obvious that we should, and also because, as some of our colleagues have pointed out, you have asked us to do so.