Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. I wonder whether or not I could help shed some light on this darkening situation by suggesting that there may be some middle ground here between what I would say was a hyperbole and an evasion: hyperbole, justified in many respects by the justified indignation of the people of Prince George and their representatives about what was said yesterday, and evasion on the part of the government in the sense that what is at issue here is not whether the minister apologized for the statement about there being cross burnings in Prince George but whether or not she was withdrawing her claims about the letter and the communication from the mayor, et cetera.
She has not indicated anything in that respect. I was here when she made her statement earlier. Unfortunately she chose to rush out of the Chamber immediately after she made her point of order. There were people that wanted to question her on her statement about having received a communication from the mayor. If she made some reference to a letter in a scrum, that is a further reference to a communication from the mayor of Prince George.
People wanted to know if she is now saying that she received no communication, either a letter or any other kind, from the mayor of Prince George. That would go a long way to correcting what members of the Alliance are claiming is untrue. I take them at their word. They know more about Prince George and the situation there than I do.
The point of the matter is that it is incumbent upon the minister, or perhaps on you, Mr. Speaker, to advise the House as to how we can create a situation where the minister can come in and account, not just for what she said about burning crosses in Prince George but for what she said about how she came to believe that there were burning crosses in Prince George. She led the House to believe this was a communication she received from the mayor of Prince George.
Members want to know whether or not the apology includes a withdrawal of that claim and an apology for making that claim, particularly if it is not true and if the mayor of Prince George is denying it.
All would be settled if the minister would be prepared to come in here and defend herself. Instead of having the Prime Minister and the government House leader defend her, she could walk in here and give an account of what she said, what she still stands by, and what she now withdraws and further apologizes for.