Madam Speaker, it was not the issue of French and English, although that is a very important issue because we are a bilingual country. The issue was audibility.
The member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan was in the middle of speaking when the member for Kingston and the Islands began to yell and scream about kings and monarchs and other matters that are unrelated to the debate, which rendered the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan inaudible to members of the House. Therefore, we are not able to judge whether or not your ruling, Madam Speaker, includes the comments that he has made in this debate.
Now, I think that the views of the member Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan are particularly important to this particular matter, because, of course, Edmontonians have a profound history of defending their freedoms and their freedoms of expression that goes back many generations, which is why I think this member has raised the point.
The role of the House of Commons is to raise issues on the floor of the chamber that reflect the values of their constituents, but if the member for Kingston and the Islands begins speaking with such volume that the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan cannot be heard, it is not the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan who is silenced, but the hundred thousand constituents who live in his riding whose voices do not resound in this august chamber.
This leaves you, Madam Speaker, in a position where you are expected to render a ruling without having heard the arguments because of the obnoxious behaviour of one particular member on the other side. I note that we have here a number of Conservative, Bloc and NDP members who are contributing to the debate, but one member in the Liberal caucus is making more noise than all of us combined, and that is rendering the debate inaudible.