Mr. Speaker, I was at the meeting in question. I want to put on the record that it is quite mistaken to suggest in any way that the rules were not followed. The rules followed were the rules that were adopted by everyone at the committee, which basically was to allow nominations to be put from the floor.
Therefore, if the hon. member for Saint John has deliberately suggested or deliberately impugned the integrity of what happened at that meeting, as the quote from the Fredericton Daily Gleaner would suggest, then I hope he would take the opportunity to apologize for making that suggestion because the rules were followed, as they were adopted at the meeting.
There was even a bit of debate about whether nominations should be allowed from the floor. After it was decided by everyone there, I do not remember the hon. member for Saint John protesting that decision. If the hon. member for Saint John did not prevail in his quest to be the co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Parliamentary Association, it probably would have been better for him to have left it at that.
However, I wanted to concur in the analysis of the hon. member who raised the question of privilege and hope that we do not have the integrity of what happened that evening impugned any longer. It is not the hon. member's fault nor anyone else's fault that there were four Liberals running. They could not get their act together and none of them won. I know they are not used to losing around here, at least over the last decade. However, that is no reason to impugn the integrity of what happened just because a Liberal lost.