And in one more note from yesterday's opening of the Budget Debate, the Speaker of the House addressed the flare up that happened when the Leader of the Opposition was asked to withdraw from the House on Friday March 10th. At the outset of the debate, she laid out the ground rules:
Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House
"While members may not agree with the decisions made by the chair and the chair may sometimes err, please be mindful of standing orders 35/5 no member shall impute improper motives to any other member of either chamber, this includes the presiding officers and standing order 38/8 the conduct of the speaker shall not be raised except the substantive motion moved for that said purpose and the reference of the conduct of the speaker shall be out of order."
"Any member who feels aggrieved by the rulings of the chair can bring the matter to the attention of the house by way of a substantive motion or directly to the privileges committee for consideration, determination and report. That is the proper way to do it and this house is the proper place to do it."
"Respect for each other and for the speaker honourable members. The level of discourse in this house has for a long time been unacceptable and seemingly very difficult to curb. Using unparliamentary language, insulting and offensive language is not acceptable parliamentary parlance - standing order 38/4 and I appeal to members to please refrain from doing do in the debate."
Today's debate ended a short while ago.
