Mr. Speaker, my colleague hit the nail on the head. If Canadians do not have confidence in their democratic institutions, they will not have confidence in the government to deliver services or in the laws that we pass in this place. The whole system breaks down if the House of Commons is not supreme, if our rights and privileges are not upheld. That is why this is taken so seriously. That is why the Speaker has said that nothing else can happen until this matter is dealt with. It is the most important thing that we can deal with; if the privileges and rights of the House of Commons are undermined, then our democratic institutions are undermined. It seems hyperbolic to say that, but this is at the foundation of this debate.
If the government can simply ignore the will of the supreme law-making body in this country, if they can just brush that aside, what does that say about our democratic institutions? What does that say about our democracy? It says that it does not matter. It says that the government can do whatever it wants; there is nobody to hold them to account. The official opposition, the common-sense Conservatives, will continue to hold the government to account by ensuring that the rights and privileges of the members of Parliament and the House of Commons are respected.