I think the matter is quite clear. Yesterday in question period the word “hypocrisy” was used. I do not regard the use of that word as unparliamentary. Calling another member a hypocrite may be, but the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development apologized on her own initiative. I did not make any ruling that suggested that anything she had said was unparliamentary.
The member got up and made an objection, and she got up and responded. She did not say “The heck with you, we will wait for the Speaker to rule”. She apologized and that was the end of the matter.
No one got up on the others. I did not make a ruling. I did not jump in during question period because in my view the use of language was not unparliamentary because the members were not calling one another a hypocrite, which would be unparliamentary. They did not do that. They avoided it like the plague.
We left the matter there. It happened several times, as members have pointed, in question period. We do have freedom of speech in the House. Members can use words that if applied to one another might be unparliamentary, but in this case they avoided using names.
Accordingly, sometimes members' speeches sound hypocritical. It has happened before in the House and members have made that kind of comment, shocking as it may seem. It does not mean they are calling the other member a hypocrite, they just said something was hypocritical.
In those circumstances, the Chair has stayed out of this. The Chair did not intervene yesterday, and I do not propose to intervene today.