Mr. Speaker, congratulations to one and all, especially to the new members.
It is an honour to rise to congratulate our new Speaker and to congratulate all the members elected in this place, whether for the first time or, as for the dean of the House, the 13th time. I congratulate, again, every member.
I reflect on what it was like when I witnessed my first Speaker election, when I was first elected. We elected the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle. I will never forget that the leader of the official opposition at the time, the late Jack Layton, stood on that occasion and said, and I commend this to the official opposition, that his caucus would never heckle. That was a wonderful moment.
As I stood then on behalf of the entire Green caucus, I do also today. I pledge again never to heckle, and to do everything possible to aid your work, Mr. Speaker, in protecting our rights and ensuring the effective, efficient and honourable conduct of this place, such that there will be no need for warnings on CPAC or any other network. Again, I urge everyone here to try our very best.
I pause briefly to congratulate the Prime Minister on his maiden speech and, again, on brevity. We look forward to more speeches from our Prime Minister, from the leader of the official opposition and from members of all parties, whether recognized or unrecognized. We are all here for the same reason. We work for Canada. We work for our constituents. With your wise counsel, Mr. Speaker, we will work hard to make this a Parliament in which Canadians can be justifiably proud of Canadian democracy.