Mr. Speaker, I must raise a point of order with regard to the language used in this House. A few minutes ago, I informed the Bloc Quebecois whip accordingly, because it concerns words that were used by his leader and others.
I realize that we may not be able to deal with this issue immediately, but I want to raise it nonetheless.
I wish to submit to you that two expressions were used earlier which are not appropriate in this House. First, you will understand that it is unacceptable to refer to a parliamentarian as a “Canadien français de service”, a token French Canadian. I simply want to point this out without fanfare because I am a French Canadian myself and I am sure, Mr. Speaker, that you will understand what I mean.
The second expression refers to something that is clearly mentioned in Beauchesne's list of unparliamentary expressions. It was used during oral question period. The term collabo, or collaborationist, was used in reference to the Prime Minister. A collabo was a sympathizer of the Nazi regime in France, during World War II.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, under Beauchesne's rules, which were established by your predecessors, citation 489 provides that the word Nazi is unacceptable. That ruling was made on February 22, 1962. One of your predecessors also ruled, on June 25, 1964, that Canadian Mussolini, which refers to another form of nazism, is also unacceptable in reference to a parliamentarian.
We just heard a third expression relating to nazism or to Nazi sympathizers in reference to a parliamentarian. I submit that it is no more acceptable in this House than the other two expressions that were deemed unparliamentary many years ago.