Madam Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, this is a response to a question of privilege. It is very unusual to see that reaction.
I will say that a far more legitimate question of privilege could have been raised with regard to the actions of Conservative Party members in Parliament in support of extremists a few years ago during the far-right trucker convoy. Members will recall that this convoy shut down downtown Ottawa for weeks, which of course had the direct impact of restricting access to Parliament Hill. Downtown residents were continually harassed. Seniors were denied medication. People with disabilities were denied groceries. Businesses were forced to shut down. Members of Parliament had to walk a gauntlet of far-right extremist hate in order to represent their constituents by coming to this chamber. Far from raising concerns about privilege then, the Conservative Party leader served the truckers coffee and doughnuts, calling it a “freedom convoy”, though tens of thousands of Ottawa residents had their freedoms denied as a result of this takeover of downtown Ottawa.
I would mention as well that, since this time, we have seen a number of incidents that are disturbing in their flirtation with the far right. The leader of the official opposition has used the male supremacist “men going their own way” hashtag to attract far-right misogynistic viewers. He accepted an endorsement from far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; has visited protesters affiliated with Diagolon, a militia-like extremist organization; and refused to punish backbenchers who met with members of the extremist AfD party, a party known for Islamophobic and anti-immigrant views.
I could—