Mr. Speaker, the reason we have to act quickly is simply because the law states we must act quickly. It says upon conviction, and that conviction occurred on October 31.
This is not an issue that any of us takes any pleasure in, and I said that right from the beginning. However, what I would say for the hon. member is that we cannot sit in a place where we make laws and then all of a sudden when the time comes to start applying those in a very stringent way, we want to look at what other options there are. I am not into that practice. I do not want to play that game.
All I am saying is that the law in this country is very clear in a situation like this. I have seen it happen in another chamber in which I served. I saw four other people who were convicted and sentenced. There was absolutely no fun in that.
However, I will say that all Canadians deserve to have representation. They deserve to have a voice in this chamber. They deserve to have someone who stands for them. In order for that to happen, that person has to be elected and serving under the current laws that we have in place in this country.