Mr. Speaker, certainly the reason this motion had to come before us is the signal we are getting from the Conservatives that they would just move this off to committee, but they did not want to deal with the issue of the suspension of pay. The issue of suspension of pay has to be dealt with because it deals with the Canada Elections Act and it is also the signal that we do not take criminals lightly in this place.
My concern at the procedure and House affairs committee is the suggestion that the member for Peterborough then gets to come before us and plead his case again. I think that would be an undermining of the legitimacy of the court, because the court is ruling on this, and in terms of the conviction, the court is going to lay out what is going to happen to the member for Peterborough on November 21 in terms of civil penalties.
I am concerned that the member would get to come before us and plead his case. He was already given the chance to plead his case in the House of Commons under his so-called rights and privileges.
I believe that the procedure and House affairs committee needs to be focused only on how we dispense with this member in terms of our obligations as a House to make sure we follow the rules of the Canada Elections Act: if one is found guilty, one is no longer able to sit and no longer able, for a period of five years, to present oneself to run for office. These are the issues that the procedure and House affairs committee needs to address.
The role of the New Democratic Party here is to say that we want this done in a manner that has due diligence and is fair; but it is not a chance for the member for Peterborough to come back and plead his case to his friends about how he was done wrong by a judge. I think that would be a real undermining of the credibility of what we should be doing here.