Mr. Speaker, I was amazed by the remarks of the whip for the Reform Party. He said that during the vote we should judge the Speaker on the basis of his tenure since his election.
Let me caution the whip of the Reform Party. The motion before us is very clear on the timeframe with which this motion has been placed. The timeframe relates to the question of privilege and the question of points of order raised by the Bloc Quebecois around March 1, 2000 and for which the Speaker made a ruling on on March 13. It is only around that time, as premised in this motion before us, that we should base our vote of conscience as to whether we must indeed censure the Speaker. I would caution all members to do this with deliberate care. To go beyond the letter of the motion will set a dangerous precedent. We will not be honest with ourselves and we will not be true to our intellect. We will be guided by our emotion and not by reason.
This House is a place for debate and a place where we can vent issues. However, to suggest that we can vote on the basis of the Speaker's tenure following his election and not on the basis of the timeframe within this motion is setting a dangerous precedent. I appeal to members not to do this. We can vote in the way we would like to vote but let us vote intelligently on the basis of the timeframe contained in this motion before us. How would the member explain this?