Yesterday I heard when the word “disloyal” was used in the House. Members will recall that I immediately intervened.
No word in itself is unparliamentary. It depends on how it is used. It depends on the tone. Yesterday in the course of the give and take of question period I thought it was necessary to admonish the hon. member. I did not think at that point that it had reached the point of being unparliamentary.
Even today when another hon. member stood to make a statement, and when we question the loyalty of any one of us, I think it is bad for all of us. I appeal to hon. members. That is why I asked members yesterday to please stay away from terms like disloyalty of one person to an idea or to whatever. All it does is incite us as we go along.
I ask you time and again to be very judicious in your choice of words. I hope this will be the case from here on in. I know that things get heated in here. I understand this place, as you do. There are times when these words go back and forth. It is a matter of seeing if we can conduct our business in an atmosphere which many times becomes poisonous because of the words we use.
In this particular case it was regrettable. I intervened. I judged then and I judge now that it was not an unparliamentary term and that I would let it sit there for that matter. However, I would hope that hon. members would be very reflective on the words and on the tone they use when either questioning or answering questions and even in debate in the House.