Mr. Speaker, what is happening today has never before happened in the history of this Parliament. The Speaker ruled that the Liberal majority government's first attempt to curtail debate on our privileges as elected representatives should be blocked. The Speaker's job is to protect the rights of MPs, and that is what he did.
The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons is at it again today. She stood before you, Mr. Speaker, hoping to put an end to a substantive debate on a question of privilege. Two members, the member for Milton in Ontario and the member for Beauce in Quebec, were denied their most basic right as elected representatives, the right to vote in the House. This is a matter of vital importance that must be debated here. Member privileges have always been an integral part of the history of our institution.
What is happening today is unprecedented. For a government to attempt to silence every member of Parliament on a question of privilege says a lot about what it really sees as privilege: the privilege of the majority to squash the minority in the House; the Prime Minister's privilege to send a convoy of empty official vehicles to block elected representatives summoned to vote on the most important bill, the budget bill. That is what we are dealing with here.
I have just one question for the person who is here representing the Liberal majority: is she not ashamed of her government's behaviour?