Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and address this today and most specifically to thank you for being in the Chair. I think that is important. The most important part about it is the fact that you are sitting in the Chair and that you, probably more than anyone, realizes that this is not about two specific little rulings. This is something that is huge, as my colleague has just mentioned. I think all of us, and especially yourself, should realize what an enormous issue this is.
By way of introduction I want to say that I appreciate everyone's views on this. This certainly goes beyond partisan politics. I know our caucuses had a lengthy discussion about this. Everyone in the House needs to pay particular attention to this. In fact, my own House leader in his remarks this morning talked about the big issue here of government arrogance. He thinks that because the government has had maybe a little too much free rein with too much closure and too much time allocation, a change in the standing orders may be something that should be addressed. I appreciate that and I respect that.
Mr. Speaker, this motion is about you. You know it, I know it and that is why you have been sitting in the Chair all day.
I will go back several years, Mr. Speaker. You and I have both been in the House for several years. You will remember when I came in 1989 we both sat under a different Speaker, Speaker Fraser, who I appreciated very much. I did not get my way all the time. I was treated as an Independent then, but I do remember John Fraser taking me into his chambers and saying, “You have been elected fairly and squarely, and even though you are sitting as an Independent, I have to respect you and treat you that way”.
When you ran after the 1993 election, Mr. Speaker—and I guess we can be honest with each other—you and I both know exactly how and why it is you are sitting in the Chair. There were discussions, everyone had a vote and we supported you. I am not complaining about everything you have done over the years. Frankly, I cannot imagine anyone even wanting your job. I do not know why you went for it but you did and you have sat through a couple of very awkward parliaments, because of the separatist issue more than anything we might think about. We have had very raucous times in the House since you became the Speaker.
Aside from all that, I think we need to look specifically at some of the decisions that you have made. I will not quote at great length from Hansard because I want to speak from my heart today. I could go back to times—before the flag flap and I was still here as an independent member of parliament and the only representative of my party—when we were not allowed to even question anything that the Speaker did.
You and I, Mr. Speaker, if we go back, will remember the time I did an interview and someone asked me if I thought the Speaker was being ruled or whatever by the Liberals. I remember making the comment that perhaps some decisions do look like the Speaker is in the hip pocket of the government. You will remember all too well that when I got on a plane later that day you tracked me to Alberta and you tracked me all weekend and then the day I came back you will remember what you told me, Mr. Speaker.
Now, not many years later, it seems like it is just free rein and it has become very public. There have been page-long interviews about you and some of the decisions that have been made. I do not think it is fair that we can go around willy-nilly and say that the Speaker ruled against me. Dear knows, you have ruled against me many times and you have had every right to. I respect that, Mr. Speaker. Because I am quick-tongued and I am mischievous you have to do that sometimes. I respect that. You know that and I honour that. However, that does not give me the right to say that it was not fair, that he was hard on me so I will bring forward a motion of censure. That is ridiculous and cannot happen every second Tuesday.
You will also remember, Mr. Speaker, a huge thing. Let me just make reference to the flag flap. I do not want to use props, dress up or do fancy things, but there was something that just cut to the quick of my heart when someone, first of all, equivocated for far too long on that issue and then said “No, you cannot display your flag”. If I am proud of my flag, darn it, I want to stand on the roof top. I do not want someone else who happens to dislike my flag to be able to rule over this place and have you under their influence to tell me that I cannot be proud of it. That was the flap and you remember it. We were all probably glad to get through those days.
Probably the most dangerous or frightening one I see is that our legal counsel people have been muffled. You and I are not lawyers, Mr. Speaker, but we know that when lawyers take an oath of confidentiality they mean it. Now I think that not only have we been compromised with the legislative counsel decisions that you have made, but I think these lawyers themselves, who are proud, passionate people and serve this place to the best of their ability, are probably agonizing about the oath they took as a lawyer. I think that your decisions have compromised them.
Would you, Mr. Speaker, like to tell a doctor in this place “You cannot live by, in your very gut, the Hippocratic oath that you took?” You know they could not do that, Mr. Speaker. We were all here when Shaughnessy Cohen dropped among us. It was devastating for us. How can you say to a doctor, “Oh, no”. How can you say to a lawyer “No, I am sorry, the oath of confidentiality that you took just does not matter any more. Partisanship overrides it”. There is something frightening about that and I think something dangerous as well.
I will finish up because we do not have much time to address this and I want other people to be given a chance. Let me just say, Mr. Speaker, because you realize that this is such a serious issue, and I do too, that I have very serious concerns about the very democratic rights of every member in this House regardless of political stripe and so should you.
