MPs must be forced to give real answers

Re: A new futility on the Hill; PM making a mockery of question period, March 2.

Friday’s Citizen informed us that when the Conservatives asked our Prime Minister a question related to his recent India trip he took the opportunity to tout the recent budget and completely avoided answering the question.

Predictably, the Conservatives were howling mad and demanded that the Speaker enforce an imaginary relevancy rule to force the prime minister to address the question. Ironically the Conservatives were often guilty of doing the same thing when they were in power and it was the Liberals who were foaming at the mouth when they were on the receiving end of irrelevant answers.

However, the larger problem lies with the Speaker of the House of Commons, who stated that no relevancy rule exists and he could not force MPs to provide relevant answers. This illustrates just how ineffective and submissive a long succession of Speakers has been. It is well past time that Speakers break new ground by insisting that a question asked will get a relevant answer, whether there is a rule for it or not. The Speaker should further insist that the answers stay on topic and no off-topic information is allowed.

The Speaker should inform those who are so contemptuous of Parliament that if they feel no obligation to provide real answers, they will be escorted from the premises by the Sergeant-at-Arms.

The chronic chaos in question period makes a mockery of Parliament. It is a discredit and embarrassment to all Canadians.

Robert John Patten, Orléans