Order. I have two reminders for hon. members and I want to quote from page 522 of Marleau and Montpetit, which I am sure is very familiar to all hon. members. First, it states:
The Speaker will not allow a Member to refer to another Member by name even if the Member is quoting from a document such as a newspaper article. As the Chair noted, a Member “cannot do indirectly what cannot be done directly”.
That was a sin committed earlier today.
Second, it states:
It is unacceptable to allude to the presence or absence of a Member or Minister in the Chamber. The Speaker has traditionally discouraged Members from signalling the absence of another Member from the House because “there are many places that Members have to be in order to carry out all of the obligations that go with their office”.
I hope hon. members will bear those statements in mind during the ensuing days and not repeat the mistakes that have been made today.