And Fonseca's colleague, Henry Charles Usher, has the same view: that Barrow realized his mistake. He today re-iterated that the Opposition Leader should not have called out the Speaker the way he did. He also added that he's within his rights to ask the Privileges Committee to examine the comments that were made towards Panton.
Henry Charles Usher. Area Rep., Fort George
"As I reminded him in the House section 38/8, the standing orders, is very clear that the conduct of the speaker cannot be questioned unless a proper motion is brought. He's aware of that. I saw him reading the book in the House meeting when the section was pointed out to him."
"So I believe he understands that he should not have done what he did. Sending that email was improper of him. Calling into question the conduct of the speaker was improper of him because when you call into question the chair or the speaker, you're calling into question the entire process of the House."
"So it's good that he sent an apology. I haven't had a chance to read it but certainly the apology wasn't to me, it was to the speaker. So I believe that question as to whether the apology is fit or not is something that the speaker would have to answer."
"Now as to the request to the privileges committee to look at what happened in the House, that is well within the rights and the privileges committee can decide to look at that, make recommendations to the House going forward as well."
And in that spirit of forgiveness and resetting relationships - Patrick Faber also gave out a non apology - apology of his own today. His one was sent into UDP chat groups and it says, quote, "In the vein of the Party leader's concession, I sincerely apologize for any harm that my letter and statement in the House may have caused to the Party. It was not my intention to undermine or harm our collective efforts. I value the trust and unity of our members." He is apologizing for the harm his letter to the House Foreign Affairs and Constitution Committee may have caused but not to his leader who was blindsided and humiliated by the letter.
