Mr. Speaker, today I would like to educate my colleagues on the need for decorum and a climate conducive to civilized debate. Our behavioural ethics, our words and our tone not only influence the public's perception of us and of our institutions, but they can also have an impact on our ability to attract new candidates, new female candidates in particular.
To that end, the Bloc Québécois tabled an action plan last year with seven initiatives to achieve gender parity in politics, a goal shared by the agency Equal Voice, instigator of this day of decorum. The Bloc Québécois has also noticed that women are far too underrepresented at all levels of government.
Let us take advantage of this day to recognize our work, the work of parliamentarians, and to show that we ourselves value this role. All these aspects combined will certainly contribute to promoting greater involvement of women and civil society as a whole in parliamentary life.