Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House of Commons. It is great to return to Ottawa to represent the constituents of the great area of southwestern Saskatchewan.
I want to thank my hon. colleague, the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, who serves as our shadow minister for ethics, for bringing forward this very important motion. It is a shame that it did not come from leaders or members of the Liberal caucus. We have heard from several senior Liberal members who believe, quite frankly, that ethics really matter. They had a great opportunity to show they take it seriously.
I am disappointed that we have to consider and discuss the misconduct of one of our former colleagues, the member for Steveston—Richmond East from the last Parliament. It is something we have to address if we are to maintain any integrity as an institution and show respect to all the people who sent us here.
As it says in the text of the motion, the actions of the member have “cast unacceptable reflections upon the House and its members, amount to an offence against the dignity and authority of the House, and warrant sanction.” It is especially disappointing for me to consider this, as I am a member of Parliament in my first term. I believe we have the ability and opportunity to make a difference for our fellow citizens, which is why I am here.
I want to touch briefly on that very point. I am a new member of Parliament. We have several senior members trying to skirt debate about ethics and about the importance that it has in our role as parliamentarians. A question for one of my colleagues, the member for Battle River—Crowfoot, was about whether we take this emergency seriously. Ultimately, proroguing Parliament proved that the government does not take it seriously, because we had the time to debate the help that Canadians need and deserve to get through this emergency, but instead six weeks was completely lost to political games. So much for the team Canada approach that we keep hearing about from the government.
Being a newly elected member of Parliament, I am looking at members from all parties to see the example that is being set. There is a long list from the government. Canadians are looking to the government to set the tone and the example for what the standards should be for citizens in our great country.
We have different reports. We have “The Trudeau Report”—