I must reply to the hon. member for Portage--Lisgar with the greatest of respect that this does not constitute a matter of a point of order, but in fact we are prolonging the debate, if I might. If in fact we just took a moment to address the issue of the comment about one's absence, clearly with regard to the House itself we have a certain standard. I am not certain, and I stand to be corrected, but I do not believe it also extends itself to committee.
Is anything fair around here? I will let everyone else be the judge of that, but clearly at this time I must rule that it is not a point of order.
I do this with reluctance, but very briefly, I will hear the hon. member for Portage--Lisgar.