Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was in the Chamber. I heard the comments that were made by Mr.
Abernethy. I concur that
Mr.
McLeod had not spoken to the motion. I
perceived Mr. Abernethy’s comments to be merely stating the obvious: that there was a motion before us to delete certain capital projects from ridings that were Ministers’ ridings. That’s what my interpretation was when I heard the words — that Mr. Abernethy was in fact stating the obvious.
As to whether Mr. McLeod was upset by that, I think it would be safe to assume that any Member around this Chamber would not be happy to have a motion come forward to delete something from their riding. I don’t think it’s an outrageous assumption on Mr. Abernethy’s part. Again, I state that to me it sounded like he was stating the obvious about some of the components of that $1.5 million that were proposed to be deleted.
Mr. Speaker, when you are considering your ruling, which will be yours and yours alone…. I think that we have embarked on a new thing in this Chamber of Members, actually, from the other side defending their ridings, defending capital projects in their ridings, and I think that introduces a new kind of tone to the debate on motions like this. I would appreciate it if that was something you took into consideration as well.