Hon. Lucie Moncion: Thank you, Senator Downe, for raising the point of order on that day, because we had an issue with some of the comments made that afternoon. I would refer to the comment that, if Senator Downe had not raised that point of order, I would have. I will quote exactly what was said, Your Honour, so that we are not misled by another conversation and end up with two points of order on the same day. I understand the Rules that when there is a point of order you cannot make another, but I will provide the information.

Senator Plett said:

Leader, the Trudeau government has sold themselves to the NDP and stopped even pretending to care about fiscal restraint. There are names for people who sell themselves. I’m not sure whether it’s parliamentary language or not, so I will refrain from using it.

Leader, there are no lines that the NDP-Trudeau government won’t cross, no fiscal guardrails and no anchors. What’s left?

This was the offending comment that, in my view, was disturbing.

Now, there are two things that have been said so far. We have to understand that we have to be careful around sensibilities, because our sensibilities are our own. When we don’t like comments we usually keep it to ourselves, but the other one is respect. I think here there is a lack of respect for people who work for this country, and I think it is important at some point to be respectful of the work that people do — whether we agree with them or not.

We have a minimum of decorum to keep here, and I think that’s important. As to my point of order, I would refer you to the exact information that is in Hansard. Thank you, Your Honour, for allowing me the time to speak.

Hon. Lucie Moncion: I rise on a point of order. You said that the motion was adopted, but then you went back on the decision because two senators rose. Since you had already made the decision, may I know why we are reversing course?

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Senator Moncion: I would just like to say that my point of order was not silly, because things were moving according to the usual order. In my view, you did not make a mistake, but I accept that you went back on your decision. However, I have a problem with my point of order being called silly. I feel that it is inappropriate language that diminishes my role as a senator who pays attention to what happens in this chamber.

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